Blind Art Online
by Anayea Winter
Summary: With a series of connections to my other release of Sword Art Online: Alternate Feelings(likely to be closed or integrated), this story follows character Ana, who is blind and mute outside of the virtual world of SAO. With changes to the whole pace and history of the story, Ana will experience Aincrad as the death game. *Notice* Contains LGBT friendly and light sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

~Prepare for Beta~

[Ryra] "How are your eyes today? Any change?"

[Ana] "No change. Still completely black. There's no healing from this damage. Stop asking."

[Ryra] "I have a reason for asking this time. Ana, what do you think of the virtual reality projects I've been mentioning for the last month?"

[Ana] "They're...interesting, I guess. Not like I'll be able to do anything with it."

[Ryra] "But you will. We've confirmed with another blind patient that they were able to enter the basic empty virtual environment today, and they were able to clearly see the picture of you. We want you to go in, to see if it will work with a nerve damage patient as well as it did for him. I want to do this so you can finally see again, Ana. Please. Give me this chance to help you and other people who lost their vision."

[Ana] "...Ryra, don't you remember that not even the best neurosurgeon was able to do the mock surgery to fix my nerve connection issue? I'm fine blind. Sure, it sucks not being able to see things and appreciate them, but what the heck is a virtual simulation thing going to do when the nerve connection simply doesn't exist any more. I don't need to see, and teasing me all the time with the next project is only hurting me more."

[Ryra] "You know I'm not trying to hurt you! I'm trying desperately to get you back your eyes! I've spent seven years of my life in medical school and studying this to try and get you back your vision! Not just you, but everyone who lost their vision, because I care! I want you to be able to see my face instead of know me from your assisting device, or from the touch of your fingers. I want you to be able to see me!"

[Ana] "I love you too, but I've been telling you since high school, I don't need to have my eyes to appreciate the life I have. Remember what I always tell you? Sometimes not having eyes lets me see the world better than anyone with their eyes. I see with my mind what I appreciate most, and I appreciate all of this. I appreciate you and how much you've saved my life, but this has to stop. You need to take better care of yourself and come home more often. Last time you came home was only because of being sick from pushing yourself too hard. I want you to come home and be okay for once. Like two years ago when you came back into my life."

[Ryra] "Ana...I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I made you lose even your voice."

[Ryra] "Because of that one unfinished surgery..."

[Ana] "Stop."

[Ana] "I miss being able to sing, sometimes to be able to speak, but you hearing my voice is all I need. Come home and finish your unfinished project. We don't need any fancy virtual realities. We don't need anything to give me my eyes. We don't need my voice back. We do need something to keep you returning home more often though. Finish your surgery in making me pregnant with our first child."

Ryra cried from behind the other end of the conversation. Ana knew how to press every button just right to make her heart ache. Often, she made her own heart ache from the memories she regretted. She had put Ana through numerous scenarios and simulations, to see if her vision could be returned. Not once in the twenty years the two had known each other, had Ana been able to see Ryra. To Ryra, Ana was the most beautiful person in the world. To Ana, Ryra was the most precious person in the world, no matter how much pain Ryra put her through. It hurt Ryra to see Ana suffer through her attempts at healing her.

[Ryra] "I'll...be home soon. Sorry, I have two copies of a test for the virtual device with me anyway, so let's just try it since I'll have it anyway. No strings attached. Thing is, this is also a beta test for a game. We can have a little fun with it if it works. What do you think?"

Ryra looked to the cardboard box where two of those helmet devices were packaged, and sighed. She was beyond nervous. She was at her desk, and had just put in the message to her secretary that she would be taking the rest of the night off, while conversing with Ana. A reply telling her that her schedule was cleared, and to take care of Ana, nearly had her running with the box down and out of the hospital, but the final message from Ana had popped up, truly finalizing the conversation for the time being.

[Ana] "I'll be waiting. Be careful on your drive home."

Ryra did hurry, and with the reminder, she was careful. She took the elevator, she wore her seat belt, and she fastened the box so it wouldn't move around or distract her from the shifting around while driving. Normally, the drive would be done in the morning when there would be plenty of people about and clogging the roads, but at night after the busy atmosphere of the day went to bed, she was able to easily glide along the roads flawlessly. She returned home in half the time of normal, and the lights were off as usual. The only source of light, would be in their bedroom where Ana would be on the computer. She would either be working on her next writing project, or she would be attempting a game. She liked to test her hearing and her mind, and she had become possibly one of the most incredible minds in the world for noticing the smallest details.

Ana was currently putting in line after line within seconds for her newest writing project. Ryra had read about it earlier in their conversation. The story was about a woman she could relate to, unable to see, and whose body had been changed. This person was in the future, but it was a less than fortunate future. Where the world was realistically receding to drought and famine, while humans retreated to their cities, but the focus of the story, was the genius main character, who like Ana, operated at blinding speeds, doing her best to make the most of the world around her. A person who creates a virtual environment. For Ana, a virtual reality was simply a dream, or a stretch of the imagination. She had spent her seven years after high school, learning and applying all of those tiniest details into learning how to create a virtual reality device which was truly safe and helpful for the user with her advanced programming knowledge, but nothing would work, even working with the nerve specialists Ryra had introduced to her. After everything, nothing. It was strange to Ryra, that someone other than Ana had been able to create the virtual reality device. It hurt her, so she couldn't imagine how Ana felt about someone else making it real.

Ana started whispering against the pain in her throat, a song in Japanese that the both of them loved. They lived in Japan together, mostly for the medical reaches and for Ryra's work, but they were both admittedly nerds of the culture. Ana still had some of her tunics from living in Canada together, but most of her side of the wardrobe now was filled with yukata or other clothing which were more common in Japan. Ana looked natural and beautiful in the Japanese clothing. It somehow suited her rich golden hair which glowed ginger like fire in the light of the sun, and was like a flickering dark spotted candle in the dark. Her milky white eyes still cast a little of the blue which had once been there.

Ana, had once been in a very rough situation. She started taking medicine to stop her growth before high school, which triggered her growth to end with her at only five feet and two inches tall. Ryra ended up a few inches taller than her, even though Ana would have been taller like the rest of her family was. At first, Ryra didn't understand at all, but with time and being careful about prying at it, Ryra got Ana to talk about it. Ana was terrified of her body. She couldn't see it. She hated how a lot of it felt, and would rather harm it than accept the fate she was born with.

Before graduating from high school, she had a month away in which she was gone for a surgery, which she returned happy from, for the first time. The happiness didn't last long, unfortunately. One selfish and terrible boy they went to school with abused her and scarred her belly with a knife. She had once liked him, because he had a kind energy. His energy apparently completely changed after she returned from her surgery. Because of what he did, she was unable to have children, ruining the work of the surgery. Even after she was scarred, Ryra still saw her as beautiful, and confessed her feelings of love to her. She promised she would follow up with her confession when she would find a cure for Ana's eyes. She still hadn't cured Ana's eyes, but Ana had accepted her anyway. Even though Ryra couldn't by normal means make Ana a mother. Even though Ryra made her suffer in ways she often thought herself worse than their old classmate Ana had liked before. Even though...

Ana turned toward her and smiled as if she truly did have her vision. It often surprised Ryra, that Ana could hear wherever she was in the house even with her noise cancelling headphones on. She must have developed some sort of super hearing to be able to hear all that. Sometimes there was a tell when she tried whispering, that it was something other than her hearing informing her where everything was in the house.

"Welcome home."

The painful voice escaped her mouth and said those two simple words. Those two words stabbed Ryra in the heart and twisted the blade to make her feel guilty. Ryra had the betraying successful virtual reality device Ana didn't make in her arms inside of the box, and Ana was showing her such kindness and the loving gaze which showed through those milk-white eyes.

As far as studies showed, her blindness was the most troublesome. All she had in her vision, was black. It meant there was no connection from her brain to her eyes. Somewhere between her brain and eyes, the connection was gone. It was near impossible to fix something like that, even with the best surgery. Despite how blind she was, Ryra often saw how incredible Ana was. Her ability to move around like normal around the house even without her assistance device a lot of the time, she would navigate perfectly, and she had dedicated a lot of time into memorizing the kitchen so that she could sate her personal interest for cooking. Cooking was one of her favourite things.

During high school, she performed what everyone doubted her most of being blind. She was incredible at archery. She couldn't see, period. It didn't matter if the archery club put a blindfold on to check, she fired the bow the exact same as usual. She didn't have perfect accuracy, but she was always close.

As a person, Ryra found her the most interesting, the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and the most adaptive. Being blind was as natural as being able to see for Ana through most of her life. There were some things she couldn't do while being blind, such as writing by hand. She had scarred her hands immensely while learning how to cook. She couldn't go around outside in Japan without her assistance device. She was passive to the point that it caused trouble when they went to Shibuya together.

Ana was...well, she could also be terrifying. The memory from the mere thought of their time in Shibuya, was like a melting point steel beam resting on the back of her neck. The memory of a gang doing something nearly the same. They rested a blade against the back of her neck at the time, threatening Ana to do what they told her or they would kill both Ryra and Ana.

Some parts of the world they had experienced together, were terrifying beyond belief, but that time, Ryra saw a side of Ana that had never shown again. Ana had taken off her assistance device and turned it off in her pocket, so that authorities wouldn't be able to check in on the incident, and even Ryra saw her like a blur. Ana was fast and decidedly deadlier than even the knife rested on Ryra's neck. She had broken the wrists of all the men of the gang, and crushed their pelvic bones under her feet. Ana was a kind person to a fault, but she was also deadly when someone would threaten someone important to her. Ryra was terrified of Ana for a day after that, showing something that no blind person should be able to do, but she accepted that it was the fault of the gang for bringing out that deadly weapon Ana could become.

In front of Ryra, was the calm and collected, beautiful woman who just so happened to be completely blind that faced her as if there were nothing wrong with her eyes at all. Ryra put the box of the virtual reality devices on their bed and walked up to Ana, pulling her up to her feet and embracing her as much as possible. She really felt that she didn't get enough of the soft and wonderful sensation it was when they touched.

"Welcome home..."

Ana whispered those words, the pain in her throat stinging at Ryra more than anything else. She had been spending so much time away from home recently, so much time away from Ana, that it hurt more than ever. She held Ana tighter in her arms, and Ana broke out of the embrace first.

"Dinner? Some is ready for you."

Ana limited the words she spoke because of the pain in her throat, but she strained herself to talk to Ryra often. It might be another reason for spending time away from her and putting herself more into her work, but Ryra knew it was definitely most because of the desperation to get Ana back her eyes. She let go of Ana, and Ana led the way out of the room and to the kitchen.

Ryra noticed the small assistance device exposed slightly from Ana's hair being tied back, clipped in her ear. The little device which made it possible for Ana to continue her passion for writing if nothing else was available to her. She didn't need it for navigating the house, but Ryra did know that unfortunately putting the device on and taking it off took time and wore away at Ana's patience. Ana was a dauntingly patient person, but she was also put off easily by the concept of wasting time. She was patient, to a fault.

She made her way to the kitchen and deftly avoided the many raised sections of floor and furniture in their small home, and when she made it to the kitchen, she stopped in front of the microwave for a second while the device told her something which was inaudible to Ryra. Ana tapped two buttons, and the microwave started heating up the food which was still in there. Ryra hadn't noticed until she knew there was food in the microwave, but she could smell her favourite meal Ana would make. It was a ramen, which she adapted with her original style of cooking, and it turned into something that tasted both Canadian and Japanese in one dish. It was like a heart attack in a bowl with the amount of salt from the preservatives, but Ana didn't have the choice of her ingredients. She would have been able to pick out from scent alone how good and fresh ingredients were, and her parents used that when they were still living together.

Ryra stared at Ana, her eyes like usual falling over details after detail. The soft and slightly scarred skin on her face from the fight in her previous relationship, the plump and colourful even without anything added lips, the hair which once was thin on top, but had been grown in through medicine which covered the most notable of scars. The hair which waved down her back in the tail like a stream of water flowing out of a break in a dam. The thin, yet strong frame which was just soft and filled enough to not worry she wasn't eating healthy. The slight bit of muscle visible from her regular training after giving up her archery. The notable gesture that she crossed her arms protectively over her belly, from the unfortunate experience of the past. The small barely visible white scars on her hands and fingers which only added to the character of her hands. The very strong and built legs which had carried Ryra home often whether it were during their time in high school, or if it were their time in Shibuya. Ana's body told many stories of the past Ana had, and their time together. Ryra loved every part of her, and it was so easy for her to overlook the pain of the surgery which would give Ana the chance to be the one to give birth to their biological child. A child who would have both of them as parents.

The sound of the microwave beeping from finishing the cycle pulled Ryra's attention away from staring at Ana, and she sighed. She was disappointed in herself a little for so easily getting so lost in looking at Ana. She could easily explain it away that she was just that in love with Ana, but it wasn't really the case. Ryra was the obsessive type. Once she would focus on something even a little, she would be obsessed with it. Like the times she would end up staring at Ana, or being so absorbed in her work. She was also possessive. She disliked the very idea of another doctor touching Ana.

"Your favourite. It's been a month..."

Ana smiled shyly, which like usual set Ryra's heart fluttering. She knew it was a reaction to the hormones in her, a deep attraction between them. Sadly, Ana couldn't experience some of those emotions with the lack of her vision, but she enjoyed feeling something else. According to Ana, she could feel Ryra's emotions. She could sense the feelings of people when she knew their energy well enough. It was strange. To Ryra, it felt more like Ana was talking about something along the lines of psychokinesis or some kind of fantasy magic when Ana would talk about being able to sense emotions and feelings through Ryra like that. That she could recognize people by their energy before they would open their mouths. Hearing a voice was a dead giveaway for her. Even the most skilled impersonators couldn't fool her. Ana's talent with it was intriguing to say the least, but it was outside of the realm of examining as far as everything that Ryra had learned in her medical schooling.

Ryra started with a partial mouthful of the piping hot special ramen, breathing on it to cool it down a little, and she skilfully used her chopsticks. It had taken her a while to learn how to use chopsticks properly, but now she was proud she didn't even have to try.

As far as blending in with the culture surrounding them, they were both able to comfortably take on quite a few Japanese traditions. The way they sat at their dining table was the traditional short tables where they sat on their forelegs, they used chopsticks for their meals, no other cutlery was needed anymore. They went out for the different Japanese holidays, prayed at shrines, and they wore traditional clothing. What came fastest for them though, was learning the language, which would normally have been the last thing to have ready. Both of them had been learning from a linguistics class in their high school with international conversation partners so they could learn properly. Arriving in Japan and being surrounded by the language made them adapt quickly. They knew enough to react to a conversation, but since they didn't have the appearance of a Japanese, it was somewhat normal for conversations to start with asking if they spoke English or Japanese. When they could reply with being able to speak Japanese, the conversation would go from there. Either way, Ana wasn't able to get into conversation much outside of something through the internet or other such experiences. Because of her throat. Nobody was worth straining her voice except her parents or Ryra.

The two Canadian girls blended into Japan flawlessly, and it would have been convincing to smaller communities in Japan that the girls' back story would have been that they always lived in Japan. Regardless of the situation, they were living a comfortable life. There were regrets and discomforts on Ryra's end, but they were mostly related to her mistakes she had made along the way. Such as their home being right in the middle of Tokyo, their home a small apartment location near the hospital where Ryra worked. Ana had mentioned wanting to be able to live out in the countryside of Japan, where it was peaceful and quite, without the buzz of a lot of people always being about. So she could safely go outside and not have too many issues with her anxiety. She was adapting to their current situation, but Ryra wanted more than anything to give Ana the things she wanted. For the time being, they were just in a temporary place, was her line of thinking.

She finished the ramen while thinking about this, the taste of the ramen was...definitely the one thing which could always send her into another daydream. It was a taste that somehow did things to her. Ana made it every time, so Ryra wondered sometimes with the thought that Ana might have something else up her sleeves with the talk of sensing people's energy, maybe she had a magic to make the ramen unique and suit Ryra's taste perfectly...but that was just a thought, since Ryra was more unfortunately rooted in reality. She liked the concept of magic and other unbelievable things, but her time spent on the sciences and proofs of reality had dispelled her belief that something like magic could be real. There was just no real explanation for some of the chemical reactions around Ana, and her mysterious capabilities despite her blindness.

"You really enjoyed it. I'm glad. Now I guess it's my turn. Those devices you brought home?"

Ana was a little more talkative than usual. Ryra thought about it a little while the two of them went back to their bedroom, how talkative or not talkative a person Ana had been in the past. Ana used to sing often, and she loved it. However, she was otherwise a very quiet person. She didn't really talk to people unless they really caught her attention. She was always calm. She was always quick to catch onto things. Ryra wondered at the possibilities of if Ana had ventured into medicine as well. She might have figured out the whole virtual reality and device issues sooner if she had taken interest in it, but it wouldn't make a difference now. Someone had beat her to it. Talking had nothing to do with her going into further education. She ended up taking programming alone, when she definitely could have handled both medical school and programming at the same time. After all, it only took hearing something once, and it would be memorized to her.

The most interesting thing about Ana wasn't how amazing she was. It was the unknown of her that was most interesting. The sudden lethal ability she had in their dangerous situation in the past. The near masterful skill in archery despite being blind. The mysterious ability to sense people by their energy. The unique taste of her food. It wasn't just the one dish which was completely unique after all. Everything Ana touched was perfection to Ryra. Like somehow there was some kind of blessing over her to cover for the loss of her eyes. It didn't make any sense, but at the same time, it was the only explanation which was acceptable, even to the most rooted people into science and proofs. There was no proof pointing to anything about her mysteries.

The two helmets were fished out of the box Ryra had brought from work, and she placed each on their pillows.

"So, these each have a wireless connection as one of the more dedicated versions of the device. However, they do need to be plugged into the wall to get the batteries charged. It's surprisingly comfortable, but they look ridiculous. They are fully charged, but it'll be safe to plug into the wall either way. We'll need to give them a minute to connect to our home network, then we can log right into the game."

"So confusing..."

Ana sighed and shook her head.

"What do you mean? Was I somehow confusing?"

"Mm-mm. There's no sense in this working. Unless they're using some kind of harmful energy, it shouldn't work. I feel like they're incomplete, or dangerous."

Ana's words made Ryra worried about them testing the device out.

"Instructions?"

The asking for instructions made Ryra baffled. The one person she would least expect asking for instructions, asked for them. She pulled out the little booklet which seemed to have been an after thought, and she went over it. The booklet was all in Japanese, so it took her a little to get through it. No matter how good she was at speaking Japanese, it was sometimes difficult to read. She passed the booklet to Ana since the booklet they were given also had braille on it. Ana's lips moved, her mind and body understanding the Japanese flawlessly.

"Of course...it really is dangerous. The developer needs to program some emergency shut offs, or the device could definitely kill someone. Are there-"

She erupted into a coughing fit. Her throat had been going through so much strain while talking, that it led to the coughing fit. During the coughing fits, there was unfortunately nothing that could be done. Ana had to catch her breath and massage specifically where her throat was inflaming. It went on for a whole two minutes before she finally stopped. She stumbled her way back to the kitchen, and filled a glass of water to return some moisture after the fit of coughing.

"Are...are there people already in the test?"

Ryra was more worried about Ana and her coughing fit, but Ana was a very protective person with a lot of sensibility about her. She was concerned about people who might already be in danger.

"There...is nothing to worry about with the test. The other users have been able to log out just fine. What's so dangerous?"

Ana made her way back to the bedroom, and searched around with her hands for the instruction booklet which had fallen to the floor from her hands before, and she searched around with her fingers until they found the page with the important information. She showed the page to Ryra, but unfortunately, Ryra didn't understand the difficult kanji.

"This page reads, the power source is a radioactive battery which is sealed, and it emits micro-waves to the brain to transmit the understanding of the virtual environment. Any sudden interruption of the signal...would destroy the brain."

Ana had to take a break toward the end. Her whispers sounded weak and exhausted. Ryra realized from Ana's words. The description of the way the device worked, especially as someone well versed in the medical field, just how dangerous the device was.

"We should shut down this project then...there's a reason you never finished your virtual device project. It's because of how dangerous it can be. These people need to know how dangerous their project is."

Ana shook her head.

"They would already know."

Ana sighed and walked around to her side of the bed, picked up the helmet, and put it on her head. She searched around it with her fingers and found the buttons which were mentioned in the instructions, and tapped the power option, turning it on. She also flipped the lid of the power cord section, and bent down to connect the helmet to the outlet beside the bed. She laid down, and waited while listening until the device started asking for physical calibration. The device was already reaching into her brainwaves, gaining an understanding of her body, and required her to give a detailed pat down understanding of her physical situation. It took her a minute to finish, and the device finished the calibration while also saying it had finished connecting to a local network.

"Why are you even testing it if it's so dangerous?"

"Dangerous or not, it's a near complete product of something I spent years on."

Ryra wanted to pull the device off of her, but it was already too dangerous to do that. She watched Ana, and when it seemed her body was asleep, she knew that Ana was inside of the virtual environment.


	2. Chapter 2

~Virtual Environment~

Ana didn't expect anything of the device's capabilities. No matter how good it was, there had been nothing to date which gave her back her vision. She was going in with her ears. The start up was at least proving the point, showing her nothing but the same old black she always had in her vision.

It didn't take long before her perception was greatly changed though. Those dangerous waves which interacted with her brain actually managed to provide understanding of image. Her vision flashed blinding white, and for the first time in twenty years, she saw colour gradually fade in. She was standing in a castle-like room, where there was a tall body mirror against one wall, and basic bedroom necessities. She ignored everything else, and went to the mirror which shouldn't be able to actually show what she really looked like. However, she had a feeling that the reflection looking back at her through the mirror must have taken from the memory of her past appearance, and inflected her current shape to the avatar she wore. The clothing she wore was white because she had no understanding for the colour of the clothes she wore. She was indeed wearing the same outfit as far as shape.

She had to blink numerous times, disbelieving at the current situation. Sometimes she dreamed about being able to see her reflection again, wondering what she might look like after all those years, but at some point it was only a dream, nothing important to strive for. Her understanding of being blind had also inflected on her virtual avatar, her eyes milky white, barely showing the slight blue which used to be like a sapphire in their richness. She could remember her past reflection well as she saw the current virtual reflection of herself, and she sighed. Inside of the virtual environment, not only her eyes worked, but her throat also lacked any pain, and didn't prevent her from producing her voice.

With so many things she hadn't experienced in so long, she had the feeling that maybe she hadn't really been satisfied with her life without eyes and without her voice. Having them back was incredible. She had to think seriously about it though. It was only inside of the virtual environment she would be able to experience such a thing. When she would log out, she would be back to normal. The every day she had grown satisfied with. How would she handle it after having the vision to see the world around her...?

With a shake of her head, she wondered what the purpose was of that first virtual environment was she had appeared in. She looked around, sensing far more with her ears than her eyes afforded. For certain, she was somehow more comfortable listening for her surroundings than using her eyes to absorb everything. She heard something out of place in the room, where the sound quality shifted. It was the mirror. She immediately assumed that the mirror's purpose would be for character creation if that was the only special part of the room. She went back toward it, and as she drew close enough, and bunch of holographic images popped up, which surprised her. She couldn't read them. At least, she couldn't read them until the kanji changed to also show braille, which she was able to understand even if it wasn't through feeling it. She didn't end up changing anything in the end, happy enough that she could see herself or an estimate of herself after all the years, and touched toward the confirm option. Seconds later, she found herself in a large medieval styled festival plaza in a circular shape. It certainly was magnificent...

"There you are! I was so worried after you logged in, I followed you...is it...are you still unable to see and that was what took so long in the character creation? You don't look any different from normal. Well, except the medieval armour the game gives us to start with."

Ana recognized the voice she heard immediately. The voice belonging to Ryra. A voice she would never be able to mistake. She was unfortunately unable to feel her energy within the virtual environment, but it was definitely her. Ana was reminded that she still hadn't looked to the source of Ryra's voice, and as she was about to look, she was beyond nervous. She never had seen Ryra in the past. Her eyes were gone before they had met, so she had no idea what to expect when she would look. Or would Ryra have actually changed her appearance with the avatar customization? It would certainly make more sense for her to change her appearance since it was almost a rule in the online world of gaming to keep a distinct difference between the game and reality.

Ana turned nervously to Ryra's voice, and her eyes were met with...well, the exact same figure she had felt numerous times in real life. The difference, was that instead of feeling her energy and presence, Ana was seeing her with the visual processing of the virtual system. She was seeing Ryra.

Ryra, as she had suspected all along, was a taller woman. She stood six inches taller at five feet eight inches tall, she normally wore readers which only helped with the tiny print of medical labels, and her face was smooth. Her eyes gave a sharp feeling that comes with vision, and the colour of them were a fine hazel. Ana couldn't remember the name of the colour since colours hadn't been important to her while being blind. Ryra's hair was a very dark brown, nearly black, and it was as smooth and straight as Ana could remember. Her slightly athletic figure showed off that she still continued with very strict exercise to be a good example to her patients, and to Ana's slight discomfort, the virtual environment didn't show the scar on the bit of exposed right hip on Ryra. Where she had extracted her marrow for replicating into the fuel for creating their child in Ana. Ana took in Ryra's appearance, the image of the person she loved the most, and imprinted it in her mind, before finally responding to the statement of Ryra being so worried for Ana's sake when she logged in and didn't show up in the plaza right away.

"I-!?"

Ryra stared at Ana in shock. Ana cupped her hands over her mouth in disbelief that the virtual environment was making it real that her lost voice was back.

"I...I have my voice back, and I can see. I probably shouldn't experience much of this though, or I'll be a mess outside of it, since this thing won't fix me."

Ryra shook her head in disbelief.

"First time you see in twenty years, and all you can think about is how inconvenient it would be to get used to being able to see? I get being cautious and protective of your current ability outside of the simulated environment, but enjoy it a little. Why don't we go and have some fun in this before you make a decision like that?"

Ana drooped her shoulders in defeat. It definitely would have been smarter to get out right away. After all, it seemed to be that they were in a test of an MMO. She spent a lot of time outside of her writing playing MMOs, trying to keep something interesting in her life outside of her relationship with Ryra and her writing. Being presented with an MMO, and the vision to actually see and experience it properly in a virtual reality? It was many of her stories and dreams come true in an instant. It was too good though, and she knew it. She knew she had to fight against the desire for everything she was being given, but between her emotional reaction to the environment around her and the return of what she didn't have outside, while having Ryra with her...it would be too much of an emotional hit to log out right away. Responsibility and the sense of danger should have decided the matter, but how long had it been...?

She sighed and followed Ryra along. They entered a shopping street from the large circular plaza with a beautiful fountain in the centre, and they were met with a multitude of npcs selling numerous different kind of items, and there were a few npcs strolling around, as well as a few people who were taking in the quality of the virtual environment they were logged into. Instinct told Ana to stay away from the regular people who were around. She stuck close to Ryra, and like usual, she was rendered dependent on Ryra. Even with her eyes, she became reliant on her because of her anxiety.

Ana took everything in though. The information of the items on sale, the prices, the quality, the useful or uselessness. As they followed the market street, they eventually arrived at a large gate which opened up to a massive field were within sight were a bunch of floating islands which seemed to be connected through some kind of teleport device. There were some passive monsters roaming around, some blue boars which made Ana think about fighting it or defending if need be. She hadn't noticed since looking down at herself since getting into the full game, but she wore a short sword on her left hip. She shook her head and looked at Ryra with the resolve coming over her that she really needed to think of the consequences of enjoying herself too much in the virtual environment.

"We...at least I should...log out. It's dangerous...and I really need to be careful, or I won't even be able to do my writing outside of this. I need to be careful of how this can effect me outside. You can continue though..."

Ana moved her right hand a little, using the menu system built into the game, and she logged out before Ryra could try to convince her to stay longer. She felt bad about having pushed for Ana to keep experiencing it. She knew Ana was completely right. Her vision wouldn't return from being able to see within the virtual environment, and her movement and senses would definitely be made a mess if she were to keep on indulging in the fake senses she would be temporarily given. Ryra was tempted to continue, but she was drawn to the menu where she looked and found the log out option. To her, it was more important to be where she would be able to reach out to Ana, and she couldn't do that in the virtual environment if she wasn't logged into it.

It took a few seconds for the device to finish logging her out and then shut down. Ryra looked around, and saw Ana sitting back down at her computer. It was painful to see her outside of the virtual environment. Seeing her strain her eyes which definitely wouldn't see anything, even though she knew straining her eyes would only hurt them. Hearing the continued sighs of discomfort. That was the result of giving something to someone, which couldn't be permanent. Especially, giving it to someone who was too smart and filled with the sense to stay away from it because of the dangers.

Ryra felt guilt for bringing the devices home. The words from before Ana logged in arrived at her lips and her voice blurted the words out.

"We...should make them shut down this device's development..."

When the words finished leaving Ryra's mouth, she frowned heavily. The device had given Ana for a moment what Ryra wasn't able to give her after so many years trying her best to do it. She sighed and put the helmets back into the box, and sealed it up, putting it beside the door to the bedroom. She went over to the computers, and leaned against Ana's back. She breathed softly on top of Ana's head, and she sighed in relief finally.

"Well...I guess you know what I look like now because of that. And you know what you look like. What was it like?"

Ryra was expecting it, when Ana opened a new text screen and she started typing the...response. She had the language setting on Japanese, so Ryra didn't understand.

"English please. Voice is fine in Japanese, but I'm still no good with reading it."

Ana nearly choked on the impulse to laugh from her little joke toward Ryra. The only way Ana knew Japanese, were hearing it, speaking it, and writing it. She couldn't read it because she had never seen it. She could write it because she could hear as she wrote it on the computer. She wouldn't be able to write it in the traditional sense, like with calligraphy, or even normally with a pen or pencil.

She backspaced the reply to Ryra's words, and tapped the language option twice with the key bind for it, and when she returned her fingers to the letters, she continued the conversation.

"You are just as beautiful as I've always been able to feel. Did you edit the scar from your hip in the customization though? Because it wasn't there."

Ana turned over the question without answering it completely. She was concerned about the one mark on Ryra's body which connected them. It was the only blemish which definitely said blatantly the blemish wouldn't exist without their relationship. She didn't particularly have any feelings about seeing herself. She was basically satisfied with a technology generated replica of what she should look like as far as the measurements and using a little of her memories. It wouldn't be interesting if it were the same as what she was expecting. She expected it, so she wasn't interested. Ryra was mostly as she expected too, but it was different when it was the person she loved, over seeing herself. She could always put descriptions and memories and what she felt into imagination and put together a person's image in her mind, but it was ultimately uninteresting. Seeing the sharp expression in Ryra's eyes was a surprise. Seeing the difference in height instead of simply feeling it. It was all more for Ana to love of Ryra.

"Ah...maybe the scan missed it, because I confirmed the customization immediately. Maybe I didn't touch the scar and it just didn't appear."

Those words wouldn't fool someone as observant as Ana.

"That wouldn't work either, since the scan also determines from the mind of the user. That means the scar would have shown up on your virtual body regardless since your mind knows it's there."

Ryra sighed in defeat. Ana was indeed too observant and quick with her mind to miss something so easy to pick out.

"Fine. I quickly edited it out. It's because there might have been a chance we could have run into a colleague of mine in there, and other people in the medical community would know right away what the scar is for. It would be better to not have them all pestering me about it, since it's still not exactly accepted for our relationship to exist here in Japan."

Ana found that a much more acceptable explanation than the previous explanation. She deleted what she had written before, and followed it up with another question.

"I was scared in there, that I would enjoy it so much it would ruin my life. How do you feel about it?"

The question was probably the heaviest thing Ana could have ever asked her. Ryra had an answer, and she was confident it would be a good answer.

"I was scared too. You went right in after telling me how dangerous it is, so I was terrified you had taken a risk on a whim and logged in. I was scared maybe we wouldn't be able to log out. Thankfully, we're out and we're fine, but I really was scared. I'm glad you were able to enjoy being able to see a little bit, but let's just put that stuff away and have the project stopped. As much as having a working virtual reality is interesting, I'd rather everyone be safe. I still hardly know any of the staff for the project."

Ana sighed and got ready to start typing out something else.

"Let me talk to the project developers. I might have met some of them through my past tries at creating a VR device. If they don't listen to reason, then I can inform the police and they'll have to shut down. Unfortunately when someone is really invested in a project of theirs, their obsession can lead to terrible judgement and put them into a situation that grows worse and worse. These people could possibly be from my previous development team, and have continued working on it even with the warnings I gave them of how dangerous it was. I was successful with the project a few times...but it was always dangerous. So I called it off and pulled out. Other people could have taken the data though, and created this. Leave it to me please. Something other than writing my stories once in a while feels somehow more fulfilling after all."

With that, Ryra sighed and nodded her head. The breath of her sigh blew at Ana's hair a little, making a bit of a mess which quickly flopped back into place. Ryra knew how determined Ana was when she decided on something, and there was no way that the current situation would be as simple as Ana just sending them a message and following up if the other side doesn't listen to her. Ana was a terrifyingly protective person. Even a mother bear wasn't nearly as terrifying. Whether it be physically, or mentally, Ana's capability was terrifying. Underneath that though, she was a kind and wonderful person who would do near anything for the people she cared about.

Ryra stood up from leaning on Ana's back, and stepped over to her computer, pressing the button which turned it to life. The two of them hadn't played a game together in a while, and after being in an MMO setting, even Ryra who wasn't quite fanatic about games, was tempted to get right into one.

Ana noticed Ryra logging into her account on the game they had both invested a decent chunk of time into. Ana only played the specific game with Ryra, so they were about equal in terms of progress in the story. Since they shared in everything.

As far as the game they were playing, it was rather overwhelming after sinking enough time into it. It was mostly putting a lot of time to catch up to the story for the end game content, and putting even more time into gathering materials and equipment to be ready for the end game raids. They were somewhat interested in the raids, but the community for raiding was a little too overwhelming as far as their attitude. No matter how fast they would catch up to speed on a raid, the other people who invested plenty of time into raiding, spent hours every day learning how to do the raid better. Raiding was a job to them, which was something that they simply couldn't take seriously. They could square up with some of the best players in the game even with the most difficult raids because of their capacity for knowledge and adapting to the situations the game would throw at them as far as skill, mechanics...not one thing could throw them off. They didn't even bother with the PVP content of the game. It wasn't any fun when they could easily figure out how the other person was playing, and turn their play style against them.

With a sigh, Ryra noticed that the game was doing an update.

"I can't remember the last time I touched this...how many updates have happened since?"

Ana didn't even turn this time, putting up a hand and motioning "four". Four times. That was...well, it was actually pretty fast, considering it had only been a few months since Ryra had played. Then again, the company was preparing to launch a new expansion, so they had a lot of content they could steadily release to bring in new and returning players to get ready for the new content.

Ryra was a little behind with her character, but Ana would be equally behind. They never took long to play the catch up game, even with the ridiculous amount of content the creators packed into the game. At least they had a few things going for them. The story was great, the dungeons were fun, and some of the raids were actually difficult as far as MMOs go. There were some infamous games that had toxic community who bashed the game, but the truth hurt those loyal to the old game, that it was underwhelming after decades of growing stale with nothing really impressive. The first thing they needed, was a severe overhaul on the...

Ryra tried blocking it out of her mind. From an outside standpoint, she could tell that the people who criticized the game her and Ana played were attacking it because it took the best from the other games, and put it together with great graphics and better story. The other games simply stood still with time and fell behind, while the fanbase pulled the nostalgia factor as their reason for saying it was the best, or that it was the pioneer for it, which had to make it the best.

With the update finished, far faster than any of those old games would perform an update, she logged in, and her character appeared on screen. She sighed and wondered if she should take her character to the customize zone and redesign her. Really, her character was just supposed to be a high school, cute version of herself, which admittedly the game's customization couldn't get quite right. With a shrug, she looked over her gear, her stats, everything else and then looked over the recommended content to proceed into the new raids. She sighed again. More grinding away hours of time only to meet up with the raid heads.

She looked at Ana, then to her screen as she realized Ana was waiting for her to party up. She was ready to start sinking some time in to catching up. It wasn't exactly a smart use of time, but it was better than putting their lives in danger with the helmets sitting by their bedroom door.

Ryra accepted the party invite, and she followed Ana as she led the way through the story quests and by midnight, they had cleared the new story content. It was actually a lot of content since it took three hours of nothing but teleporting and slaying monsters through new content, clearing a dungeon along the way. It was...well, it was nice to be caught up on the content, but they were under geared...again. Updating on gear always took longer.

Because they managed to catch up on the story, Ryra leaned back in her chair, stretching her back and she faced Ana to see how she was doing. Ana was still...well, she wasn't tired. She wasn't bursting with energy either. She never showed much of being either. It was hard to tell how alert or sleepy she was, which made it difficult to confidently say they should go to bed and rest, or...other uses of time in bed.

Ryra was more undecided and shy before anything would begin in that regard. She would be fine with talking about it after the fact, or totally get into it during the act, but she was shy about bringing it up. Ana wasn't particularly longing for that kind of interaction either. Actually, it mostly depended on her mood if anything would happen. Sometimes she would turn it down, then later explain it was because she was reminded of the unfortunate past she had weighing on her mind. That was okay with Ryra, as she didn't want to make Ana uncomfortable with her.

In the end, she properly logged off in a safe zone from the game, turned off her computer, and headed to the bed. She didn't hint at anything, but Ana followed her to bed, and whatever would happen, would happen. For the night at least, they were very close and emotional. They had wasted away a few hours in between the most emotional part and getting into bed, but the emotions rose back to the surface the moment they were in the bed.

Ana's eyes scanned over Ryra as if they actually saw her. Maybe they did. Ana had a surprising memory. It was very possible she was putting together the memory of seeing Ryra in the virtual environment, and the energies she could supposedly feel a person with. It was very possible that Ana could put it together with her mind, and that alone was something which made Ryra a little uncomfortable. Did she lack confidence in herself, knowing now that Ana knew what she looked like? There had always been at least a small element of surprise, of what she might look like that teased at their connections.

In the end, the two simply held onto each other in a comforting hug to tell each other everything was alright, and kissed each other before falling asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

~A Fast Month~

When Ana woke up, Ryra was gone already. She was used to it, but it did still hurt her heart a little to have yet after two years being in a relationship together, to wake up together.

She sighed, and pushed herself out of the bed. She had forgotten to take her assistant devices out of her ears the night before, but it wasn't anything unusual. She was generally a soft sleeper, hardly ever even tossing in her sleep. It made it very safe for her to wear something like a necklace, earrings, anything most people would normally remove before climbing into bed. She felt around and adjusted the positions of the chain for her thin gold chain which held an emerald and diamond encrusted small pendant her parents had gifted her for her recent birthday, followed up by the matching earrings which were slightly out of place. She wasn't particularly fond of jewelry since it was something else to wear, but finally having something of quality she could just leave on was nice.

Ana reflected on her time with Ryra. For the most part, it was just like living with her family back in Canada. She was not fit for work, so she spent more of her time at home, even took her further linguistics courses and programming courses from home. She had spent a lot of time in her home, exercising only frequently to keep healthy after she was dismissed from archery. She spent most of her days on the computer, writing her stories which came to her either out of listening to inspiring other stories, or through dreams, or spending her time playing video games which were able to be detailed enough through the assisting programs that told her enough to understand the game and what was happening in the moment. She would always have something to do when she was on the computer, so it was a familiar place to be. Home, whether in Canada or Japan, was home. As long as it was a place where she could do the things she knew most, a place where at least one person she loved lived there, it was home.

Often though, Ana felt lonely. She didn't really talk to other people. She sometimes talked to her family through text chat, and kept in touch with Ryra, but it wasn't quite enough. She wasn't comfortable talking to people she didn't know, and in person it was worse because of her anxiety. There had been no real reason to reach out for other people. The people that were there for her and helped her through life to that moment, were all she needed to keep herself stable and calm, and eventually find herself back at a point of satisfaction.

The days would pass by as if nothing were different at all. Ana learned more of the beta test of the game that Ryra had brought home and hadn't removed from the house. Ana had contacted her prior contacts through the virtual reality project, and eventually found who continued on. She tried to convince them out of it, but he refused because of the amount of support the project was getting because it was working. He was an idiot. Well...he was an idiot, but he was brilliant. He hadn't managed to take much of the information from the projects she had been a part of, but he had figured out how to get it working.

He was someone...who definitely had some sanity issues, from what she heard of his voice through the voice call she had made with him. He was determined to get his world and story of Sword Art Online to the public, and show the world that virtual reality was possible. For some reason, he stressed the word **reality**. Like he was conveying a message. The immediate sirens going off in her head told her to report him and have him shut down, but nothing ended up happening. The project continued, he went into hiding somewhere the police couldn't find him, and the month would come to a close soon. When the month would end, the man had already told her he would definitely release the full game to the public. Ten thousand copies would be sent out. Especially the beta testers would be getting their copies.

Ana had almost been pushed to the temptation to go back into the beta test, but to warn the people playing the beta test. To warn them and have them spread out the truth, of how dangerous the man leading the project, and the device itself were, but she was too much an anxious person to go into the game. She was too worried about the game ruining her the next time she would log on, and she was too afraid of facing her anxiety for the sake of the other people playing.

Full of regret, the month continued to pass.

Ryra was excessively busy with her work. She was flooded with patients, normal and strange. She couldn't even get any time in to return home, doing what little sleeping she could get in at the hospital in her office. She had done the routine before, but it had never been so bad. It had never been so busy at her hospital.

As far as the normal patients, visitors mostly suffered having a cold. She had wondered if it was really the case when she had watched a slice-of-life anime in the past, that a cold could be so bad, and she was able to tell the truth. It was just how weak the immune systems were in all of the cold patients she saw. A cold was only as bad as the patient's immune system was weak. There were some accident patients. There were some surgery patients. There were some patients who were being relegated to her as their new main doctor since their previous doctors were too busy with other patients. And then...there was the strange flood of patients. Because of the main doctors being so puzzled and too busy, the strange cases were dumped on her.

These people would have fevers, they would have slight or major delusions. They would constantly talk about something which only confused Ryra more. She had to wonder if suddenly a lot of people with a mental health condition such as schizophrenia had suddenly en masse decided to venture to the hospital for help, but further examination turned up nothing.

Twenty eight days after the last time she was able to return home, she had the last new patient arrive at the hospital under the same strange cases pretense. The last of the strange case patients, was a young teenager. His medical record said he was fourteen. He was at least thankfully one of the more collected individuals who had come to the hospital, but he had similar symptoms. There was more than just the babbling, fever and delusions. His case didn't have the delusions. His case had the fever, the babbling, and the weakness in all general sensation. All his senses were dulled, at least a little. It was one of the least worrying cases, but that was also what she needed in order to learn more about it. She needed a coherent patient, in order to figure out the source of the sudden breakout.

"Hello, Jun-kun. I'm doctor Ryra Winter. You can call me Winter-sensei. Now, can you tell me what started your symptoms, or anything that might have started a little before the symptoms started showing up?"

He was tired and holding a cold compress to his forehead to try and keep his fever down if possible. He looked up to her from the patient seat in the office. There were many eyes like his she had seen in the month, which were exhausted beyond belief. He nodded his head after hearing her ask the entire question, and started mumbling something, which turned into babble for a few seconds, but he caught himself. He removed his left hand from the compress, holding it to his forehead with his right hand, and he pinched his cheek to return his senses to the reason he had come to the hospital.

"Doctor...Eh...Winter-sensei. Um...I suppose this new game might be around a month old now. Maybe I'm just tired..."

He shook his head and was about to stand up from his chair. Ryra finally had something to go off of though, so she told him to sit back down, jotting the new point down on her notes. A new game? There were a lot of new games which were released about a month before. None of them had any kind of health risk warnings on them though, and the people with the strange cases weren't likely tied to the same kind of game unless it were revolutionary. Was there a game released which was revolutionary a month ago? She couldn't think of one. She wondered if she was just that exhausted as well.

"How has your eating been, Jun-kun?"

He stared blankly at her for a few seconds after hearing the new question. The babble nearly returned, but he caught himself and answered her.

"Healthy stuff. My parents make healthy food at their restaurant, and I get that for all my meals. Stuff meant for sick people. Maybe that made me...?"

She shook her head and jotted down the normal eating to the form she had made for the strange case patients. She nodded her head, and returned to asking for another answer.

"How has your sleeping been? At your age, minimum eight hours is recommended, but I'm considering the gaming, so at least six hours, right Jun-kun?"

He shook his head and stuttered out a sigh.

"T-ten hours. But...I'm gaming while sleeping..."

Ryra was immediately confused. There was no game out there aside occult headset experiences which could be played through sleep as far as she knew, and those had been banned for the same reason she was about to explain to Jun.

"There's the problem. No matter how much you think you get when playing any game, your mind is not really sleeping. This means that you're this sick from mental exhaustion. Unplug for at least a week, and let me know how you're doing after that. Eight hours every night. The symptoms of sickness from severe mental exhaustion, are a variety of dulling on the senses, high fevers, delusions, sometimes hysteria and confusion. This sounds to be completely the case. As well, it won't hurt you to unplug for a week. I'll also prescribe you a basic cold medicine to help with your fever."

Jun stared at her at first with an angry expression, thinking she knew nothing about the game he was playing, but the proof stacked up as she explained, and he groaned in response to the closing argument from her.

"The game official launches this weekend though..."

She rolled her eyes at the excuse, but with him saying those words, she had a chilling feeling about the source of the sickness. She wasn't sure, but shouldn't the project have been shut down? She didn't know if it was really the source, but it seemed the most likely when she turned it over in her mind. As Jun stood up, she also stood up and cleared her throat to get his attention.

"This game...you're a beta tester, right? Is the name of the game Sword Art Online?"

Recognition and surprise filled his eyes, and he was nearly the most alive when he heard her mention it. That reaction was all she needed.

"It was even more dangerous than Ana told me..."

"What do you mean by that, doctor?"

He was staring at her with an intensity which told his passion for the game and that it shouldn't be called dangerous, but he had no idea what kind of terrifying information she was about to tell him about the device.

"Ana is my fiancee, and she had some part in a VR project before this NerveGear came around. She never ended up finishing because everything ended up becoming dangerous. She knew right away about the NerveGear being dangerous in the way it operated at all, and confirmed it when she read how the producer made it work. Using radioactive and micro waves. Essentially, one wrong move while the device is on your head, and the waves will melt your brain, literally. If you do continue using it, warn your family that it's dangerous to forcibly remove it. Paired with that it will not allow sleep while in the virtual environment, be sure to not spend too much time on it."

His eyes widened hearing the warning about the waves used by the device. Apparently he had looked into the device enough to understand the possibility. He wanted too much to not accept the danger being real however, so he argued.

"I will sleep properly...but...seriously? Isn't it a helmet to protect us from that?"

She shook her head to answer his doubting question.

"Radiation is far too dangerous for a modified plastic to protect your head through. The micro waves only guarantee it since they're sending the information from the game to your brain while loaded into the virtual environment. I'm only more worried now since you're definitely not the first with the sleeping issue using it. You helped get a lot of people healthy again today, so think on it, and get some proper sleep."

She handed over a slip of paper with the prescription for the cold medicine, and he left the room with the return of his exhausted expression. He shook his head as the door closed, and she sat back in the chair, sighing in relief that she had finally figured out why so many people had been sick. There was definitely the chance he could be the only one, but telling everyone to get some proper sleep for a week, miss the official launch just to be safe, was a precaution that just might save a lot of people. She informed the clerks who made calls out to patients on the waiting list for leads on their health issues, telling them her updated information for them.

She sighed in relief when that seemed to be dealt with, but shortly after, yet another overflow patient was called to be arriving shortly to her office from the front desk. With her own exhaustion, she groaned and cleared up the files on her desk which were now of less concern. She waited for the next patient, and continued to work until she finally had a break to tell Ana about the situation.

[Ryra] "Finally have a break! How are you doing?"

[Ana] "I'm...tired of getting nowhere with those people. I haven't been able to get much writing done at all either because of how worried I've been. And just how busy are you that you hardly have the time to talk to me like this over the last month?"

Ryra sighed again and touched her forehead to her desk. She just wanted to go to sleep, and find herself in her bed at home with Ana.

[Ryra] "Take your pick, and it'll be all of the above, from strange symptom cases being shoved on me to solve, which I just solved an hour ago, to overabundance of the cold season striking, to overflow of other doctors being pushed on me and having me become a regular and family doctor to a bunch of patients...I'm so tired of this. I want to relocate to a smaller hospital and rest forever with you."

Ana had to hold herself back from choking on the laughter. She couldn't laugh without hurting her throat immensely after all. She couldn't help it though. She understood the frustration just as equally and the exhaustion. They were both in a similar situation, and it was finally to the point that Ryra was finally mentioning moving to another place with a smaller hospital. Ana felt sorry for the people who just had her assigned as their new family doctor, but the health of the doctor is paramount to the health of the patients. An unhealthy doctor is detrimental to their patients.

[Ana] "Well, come home soon and we'll pack our bags. I heard of a nice small town north of Sapporo which feels like Canada during the winter a little. Let's research some more together when you get some time away from work. We can find a place we'll both like."

[Ryra] "As much as it sounds like a great retirement plan...it sounds like a retirement plan. I'll make some time and come home for a couple of days. Just...please tell me you aren't considering going into Sword Art Online again. It was the cause of the strange symptom case. Apparently people thought they were getting their sleep while being logged into the game, which caused mass exhaustion. Imagine how surprised I was that was the cause. I warned the patient who was in an hour ago that he shouldn't touch it at all because of the other dangers of it, but he seems like he'll definitely be one of those people who logs in on the first day of official release. Just a teenager. There might be some smarter patients among the older crowd with a little patience to wait out the first day, so hopefully there will be less to worry about on launch day. I just have this dreading premonition that launch day for that game is going to put a lot of people in medical care for whatever reason."

Ryra was excessively nervous of it. It had floated in her mind a little while she was handling the other patients who had been through since Jun had been in. She shook her head and was about to send something more, but Ana had replied.

[Ana] "I had a nightmare about it. That there would be a lot of people who die on the launch day, and not just in the game...I can only guess at the sanity of that person in charge of the project, but it feels like something he might do. Program the game in some way..."

The both of them had a dreading feeling that something awful was going to happen in four days, when the game would officially launch.

[Ana] "...I should tell the police to..."

[Ryra] "Let me do it. We have to tell someone in law enforcement who will do something about this. They just gave up on the case completely when they couldn't find him, so I'll check into if I can get someone more influential involved in this. Cancelling the launch from a law stand point sounds like the only option left. It would make further work toward VR technology illegal most likely...are you okay with that?"

[Ana] "Lives are more important than having a working virtual technology. If nobody will help, I'll go in and do what I can on launch day to warn everyone to be careful..."

Ryra froze at the thought. Ana had merely mentioned the fact she would go in to warn and hopefully stop people from risking their lives, but Ryra was terrified something would happen to Ana.

[Ryra] "No...no! Leave that kind of thing to the police! We'll give our NerveGear and have them do that kind of work! I'm not letting you risk your life!"

Ana sighed in relief that Ryra was so protective of her. With how little often time they spent together of late, she was worried that Ryra might not care as much, but being so assertively protective assured her emotionally that Ana would be fine no matter what would happen.

[Ryra] "Besides, you're really going to have to be careful, because I just cleared up the entire weekend from my schedule. I finally have the time to finish that surgery, and you'll be pregnant. With our baby. It's finally time!"

Ana felt a warmth and a weight in her which made her feel ready as she always did at the mention of her becoming pregnant. She didn't get to keep her first child, but she would definitely be the mother of any children her and Ryra would have together. The very mention made any thoughts of going into Sword Art Online on release day vanished. The launch was on Sunday November the first, so it was likely to be that day, Ryra would finally perform the surgery to transplant the seed from her own DNA to Ana. What was needed for them to finally have their baby. Or babies. They could finally have their family.

[Ana] "Then do you mean the whole weekend by Saturday and Sunday, or do you include Friday in that too? Because more time would definitely be better."

[Ryra] "Friday Saturday and Sunday!"

Ana smiled, and rubbed at her belly through her thin tunic. She could feel the slightly raised scars from her c-section performed when she gave birth to her first baby. The scars had been a reminder for so long that she was a mother, but only biologically. That she would never see her first born ever again unless the adoptive parents decided to let her baby meet her later in life. That she might never get to be a mother. That changed when Ryra returned to her life with her proposal to marry. At first, Ana had given up on finding a good man, and she was attracted to Ryra anyway. The relationship and emotions grew, so she accepted them, and eventually found out that Ryra had a way for them to both parent the same child after they had moved to Japan together. She just needed to have enough free time from her work to make it happen.

[Ana] "I'm looking forward to it."

Ana smiled with tears dripping along her face. Ryra was beaming, feeling that she had made Ana the happiest she had managed so far in their relationship. She felt guilty that she couldn't keep that up though. She could do the surgery, and set their being parents together into motion, but she couldn't give the continued happiness of moving them out into a more comfortable and lesser populated parts of Japan. She was on a contract to work for the hospital she was at for another two years minimum. She wanted to go and find the contract, wherever it was and rip it up if it meant she could make Ana happier, but she and Ana had a similar mind for responsibility. That they would definitely fulfil their responsibilities to the end whenever they were completely possible. Sometimes, she thought, being responsible was unfair.

[Ryra] "I love you, so much Ana."

[Ana] "I know. I just wish you could feel how much I love you the same way I feel you love me. Take care of yourself with work until you get home, and be careful!"

[Ryra] "Of course."

Ryra added a smiling emoticon to the end of the message and ended the current conversation from her end. A buzz had come near the end of the conversation, telling her that another patient required assistance. Her mind buzzed while she waited for the patient to be sent in. Her mind was filled with Ana. Between the scars which connected them and told the stories of her past, there was one particularly large and notable scar on her which told a unique story that Ana had avoided, but Ryra learned about through her medical schooling. She had always known Ana was a wonderful model girl a lot of other girls put on a pedestal, so the scar and the reason for it came as a surprise. More a surprise because of the conditions for the surgery that scar was tied to, age and body compatibility being the most important.

Ana had been born with a male body, but put her body through the immense and painful experience of becoming completely female with the surgery that had only become successful while they were still in high school. The surgery which allowed her to have a somewhat normal relationship with a man, that she had loved before, but he nearly ruined her completely. The surgery that would allow her to properly experience being a mother as she always dreamed of, with Ryra's involvement in her life. Ryra sighed as she thought about it. About how such a wonderful and beautiful woman had the possibility to have turned out completely different. That Ana might have looked completely different. Ryra had the confidence that no matter how their history would have played out, she definitely would have gone to Ana with the same feelings and confess to her even if Ana would have been a man. After all, Ryra loved Ana, not the sex of her body or the mental gender. She loved the personality which shone like a spotlight.

The appointments closed, the next day passed, and Ryra returned home after. She had with her, the ready materials for performing the small, and only non-scarring surgery Ana would have in her life. The one which would make them parents at the end of nine months. Ryra was ecstatic. Ana's mind drifted between the dream come true which was approaching with Ryra's return home, and the worry for the situation in the game, since the NerveGear in their home were still there. The intense sense of responsibility as someone who worked in the VR department for long enough, to warn and protect the people who were throwing themselves into danger. Ana's mind was on a delicate balance. The question was if she could keep her mind on the future and her babies with Ryra ahead of the sense of responsibility.


	4. Chapter 4

~The Official Launch~

After Friday morning provided a comfortable and warm morning where Ana and Ryra simply shared in each others presence, they prepared for the implant. Ana was secured to the bed so that in case her body decided to react violently to the pain of implanting Ryra's contribution to their children, they would both be safe from her uncanny strength which came about in strange situations.

Ana was a bundle of love and calm while the surgery happened, observing with her emotions overflowing to Ryra, in effort to try and understand just how Ryra felt about the surgery. Ryra was nervous and extremely careful. To the point that Ana was nervous. After the quick moment which the surgery took place during, the binds were undone, and they cuddled on their bed until their stomachs protested ignoring lunch. Friday passed by without much more. They cuddled, they whispered to each other carefully and softly about the future after nine months. They discussed names for their babies, and it nearly flowed into the next day, but they were both exhausted from the stress that the surgery would have been a failure because of some form of accident.

Everything was going perfectly...except the thoughts in Ana's mind. She wanted more than anything to keep her mind focused on the importance and immensity of their children coming into their lives after nine months, but the weight of the dangers of Sword Art Online hurt her. There was a large enough chance in her thought process that the person leading the project, Kayaba Akihiko, would end up just releasing the game, and participate as a rare visitor to welcome everyone. She didn't really know him. He was an unknown element, no matter the amount she had learned about his personality before the point the weekend had come.

Friday came to an end, and when Ana and Ryra went to bed, Ana waited until Ryra was asleep. She climbed out of the bed carefully so that Ryra wouldn't be awakened, and she observed the energy of those two NerveGear in the box. They were dangerous, she reminded herself. Perhaps not dangerous enough that a slight movement on the head while on a person would cause the person's death, but certainly dangerous to remove while the device was turned on. It was dangerous in that so long as the user didn't get sleep within the virtual environment, they would be in danger of over exhausting themselves. After all, the actions of the person were still the same. If they were to have a normal day within the virtual environment, sleep regularly, then they were getting enough rest. However, eating in the virtual environment would definitely not sustain the needs of the body. She knew all of this. She had spent plenty of time studying and understanding the limits of virtual technology since before she entered high school. It had been over ten years she invested into the dream which was inspired by old anime and other science fiction stories when she was younger.

Before the surgery which put her life together, she even thought it would have been nice to like in those stories, get trapped inside of a virtual environment. That thought was now a nightmare. It was a horror that would separate her from Ryra, and put their parenthood at risk.

She couldn't do anything with the NerveGear at the current point, because the beta was over already. There were other small puzzle games and very underwhelming uses programmed into the NerveGear, but putting herself at even the slightest risk now that she had life growing inside of her, was making sure that she couldn't take the risk.

She sighed and returned to her side of the bed, climbing in carefully so she wouldn't wake Ryra. The night passed with her eventually falling asleep, a nightmare occurring that Ryra would do what she had thought of, and go into the game on launch, and warn everyone to not risk their lives. That they should log out of the game. That even if her or Ryra would do that, it wouldn't make a difference, because the log out option would be taken away on official launch. That no matter how much they warned and tried to stop people from being reckless, there would be too many reckless gamers among the crowd who would disbelievingly go out and get their avatar killed, which was likely to cause a problem with the NerveGear as well.

Ana woke up as if she hadn't slept at all, exhausted and Ryra ending up making their breakfast, delivering it to bed.

"I'm surprised, you know. You rarely get sick. Plus, it's only been a day for the development toward our parenthood, so you're not sick from that. Why not tell me why you're so sick and exhausted? Did you get out of bed and stay on the computer most of the night?"

Ana fidgeted and sighed.

"I...had a nightmare. That one of us would end up going into the launch of Sword Art Online, to warn and try to save people...it just kept on getting worse, and..."

Ryra sighed and moved the breakfast tray with a very simple rolled omelet dish and a small bowl of rice porridge with blueberries. Ryra had learned a little bit for cooking from Ana after all. The food placed on a nightstand beside their bed, Ryra pecked a kiss to Ana's forehead, and pat her head.

"You're definitely the concerned mother type, already. You're so protective of all those strangers. You know that there were a thousand beta testers. You know that the official launch is going to reach ten thousand people, and it's most likely going to be full on the first day. Any number of nightmares can spawn from the kind of literature history we have. You alone have told me about at least three dozen VR game stories, and more than a dozen of those trap the protagonist or all of the players inside of the game. Nothing can come from worrying alone though. We'll just hand over the NerveGear we have today to the police, and let the police do their job inside of the game, trying to protect those people from being a stupid side character in one of those old stories who ends up dying."

Ana's chest tightened. In the end, she hadn't been entirely convinced the night before, before going to sleep, so she put one of the helmets under the bed, in her travel bag. She was afraid of herself more than she was afraid of her nightmares and fears. She was afraid that her instincts and nature would push her to going into the game. Every sign pointed toward her very likely journey into such a dangerous situation. She kept trying to remind herself, that she had to stop herself from going into the game, because taking care of their babies was more important.

"Well, you'd better eat up. Would you like me to feed you? Or should I feed you anyway?"

Ryra laughed softly while she said it. She had expressed on occasion before, the idea that she wanted to be the mother sometimes as well. To take care of Ana in normal familial ways. To nurture her instead of it turning into the usual attempt at trying to bring back her vision from some method or another.

Saturday went by slowly, with Ryra taking care of Ana. Ana had developed a fever from her anxiety running rampant from her mind continuing to create possible situations that might happen the next day. Ana wasn't that incredibly sick really. It was that she was having an anxiety attack. Her mind was prone to being overcome by anxieties. She had to stay calm and in control over herself as often as possible. For the first time, she was involved in something that might mean a lot of lives. She had no idea just how the situation would unfold, but as her anxiety started calming down toward the night time, she had the idea in her that whatever would happen, that Kayaba Akihiko couldn't really be that crazy to be a villain from one of those old stories. She could just log in to Sword Art Online on release day, and log out. As long as the log out option was there, there was nothing to worry about. Her nightmares and anxiety were just a product of her overthinking.

She fell asleep early, but woke up early as well. When the early morning mail was delivered, she got out of bed and grabbed it. Of course among the early morning was two copies of the game intended for them as beta testers. They now only had one NerveGear in the house, the one Ana had hidden, and she was about to hide one of the game discs. She put the disc for Sword Art Online into her computer, and it loaded up the downloading and installing sequence, telling her that it would be ready for her to log in at one in the afternoon.

With a sigh, she climbed back into the bed. She of course had hidden everything on her computer and turned the monitor off in case it would give away what was happening to Ryra. She rested, feigning full sleep most of the morning on Sunday. She missed breakfast with her heavy feigned sleep. Ryra had expressed a little worry, but she just kept to treat Ana for her fever. At noon, Ryra decided she would go out and grab something a little more interesting for lunch and some medicine. It was during the time Ryra was out of the house, that Ana put on her NerveGear and waited in the lobby of its basic virtual environment for the launch of Sword Art Online.

The wait wasn't long. It was boring, but when the icon showed up that the game was available for online connection, she selected it and dove in. She was put into the character creator, and didn't bother to change anything yet again.

Ana was near instant welcomed by an anxiety attack. Hundreds, no, thousands of people crowded the familiar fountain plaza that she had spawned into during the beta. There was a thunder of voices filling the area around her, and she even heard some of those voices directed at her. She scrambled around, trying to find her way out of the crowd, putting her hands over her ears. Unfortunately, the effect was about equal to real life, only slightly dulling her hearing of the thunder of voices.

It was disorienting. She just wanted to log right out, but her mind couldn't put that thought together. There continued to be people who would reach out and ask her to party up with them. Some would continue after her a little as she would retreat further away from the centre of the plaza. Her anxiety was at an all time high, and even when she finally reached an alley way out of the plaza, she only crouched and entered the foetal position, gripping herself into a ball. It took her five minutes to finally pull her mind together. When she was together enough, she moved her hands about, getting the menu open. At the bottom of the main menu where there should have been a log out option, the option was greyed out. She tried touching it numerous times. There was no override function for her to force her log out. There was nothing. She remembered her words to Ryra before, that there should have been more methods for logging out. That there should be emergency log outs, or there should be a safety for the device to be removed.

The nightmare became real, was all she could think as she closed the menu, realizing the horror that Kayaba Akihiko had really trapped thousands of people inside his stupid selfish ambition. She wanted to cry, but even the feel of the tears she cried in the virtual environment were hollow. She cried incessantly. While she cried, it seemed a few people had heard her. Some of those people stared at her for a moment, then dismissed her as creepy before walking away. Two people together who seemed to have themselves together were hurried toward the alley, but they had a pursuer from the crowd. The three people passed over and by her, and the pursuer caught up to the other two.

Ana could tell that much by immersing her into her hearing. A flash in her vision even when she had her eyes closed, told her that her hearing had levelled up inside the game. She wanted to exclaim some kind of sarcasm toward it, but the sound of the conversation that drowned out the thundering crowd out in the plaza caught her attention.

"Hey, you two know this game right? You're beta testers? Could you teach me?"

Ana continued to listen. The two who were being pursued were beta testers? Well, she had thought of it for a fraction of a moment, but it was so obvious it wasn't worth mentioning. It was obvious they knew the layout of the place at least enough to know where to head, so the only people who would have that kind of knowledge would be beta testers. The other person was likely a new player, since he was asking for advice. One of the two beta testers was quiet, while the other invited with a "why not" before leading the way. Those three left the alley, and the sound of the thundering conversations of the plaza hit her again.

She put her hands over her ears again, and after a minute of stifling her hearing that little bit, another notification came that her hearing had leveled up. It was...annoying, honestly. Eventually, the thunder of conversations from the plaza died down plenty as people made their way out of the plaza and to the fields to try out fighting.

She had a vague idea of how fighting would be inside of a virtual environment. The assumption would be that for a game, there would be some kind of guiding system for skill use, but decently skilled fighters from outside would be able to fight without activating the skills, using their instincts from their combat training. There would mostly be obsessed gamers though, playing the game. They would be risky and fight beyond their skill level, not paying mind the risk of dying within the game. After all, to them it was just another game, on a new and more exciting platform than ever before.

That kind of mindset was terrifying.

Yet again, her hearing leveled up. Hours passed, a virtual display in her vision only available in the virtual environment telling her what time it was. The time was approaching five thirty in the evening. The sun was setting, but she hadn't moved from the foetal position the entire time, so she hadn't looked to see what the sunset looked like inside of the game. It had been twenty years since she had seen a sunset, but that wasn't important. By now, she would definitely have been rushed to the hospital by Ryra. Ryra would be panicking and she would be upset. Ana knew she deserved to have her action criticized, but it didn't make it feel any better, when suddenly, mass teleportation sounds could be heard. She only knew what the sound was when she ventured a glance to the plaza. So many people returned. The return of thundering conversation occurred, and she assumed it must be time now for that man to make his announcement to those unknowing of the situation. Nobody could log out, and there were likely, unfortunately a lot of people lost.

Ana had felt a short period of time while waiting during those few hours, that she wouldn't have been able to move her body even if she wanted to. She assumed that time, was used to get her to the hospital. So that Ryra could put her on a feeding machine. Ryra probably already knew that Ana was stuck in the game.

Ana became more frustrated. Her frustration was challenged by a sudden change of mood in the plaza, as the thundering of conversation died completely, and she chanced a look out, her eyes being greeted by a giant mass of what either looked like wet paint or blood dripping down from some kind of error code in the virtual sky. Her stomach churned in response to the sight. She closed her eyes, and turned her focus onto listening again. As soon as she focused her hearing again, she received another notification that her hearing had leveled up. She had managed to reach a level with her hearing, that she had also unlocked something called advanced perception. A quick thought to that, gave her the idea that it might work like her ability to sense the energy of other people in real life. It was very unlikely to work the same, but it might make it easier to continue blind within the game.

The thundering familiar voice of Kayaba Akihiko fell over the plaza, and easily reached her ears. He was greeting them politely, and welcoming to the game. She wanted to protest him with every fibre of her being, but she continued to wait.

He explained the reason for bringing everyone to the plaza, and that they wouldn't be able to leave the plaza until he was finished explaining. At least he was making it easy for everyone to know his rules or conditions, she thought. She sighed and shook her head, burying her face back between her knees.

She heard the figure next, for the number of people who had already died, to either the tragic mistake of having their NerveGear removed, or letting their avatar die. He confirmed then, that he truly had been despicable. He made it impossible to leave the game without clearing a condition. No way to log out. No way to emergency pull them out of the game. If the device ran out of battery, it would melt the brain. If the device were removed. If the avatar would die. If the player didn't satisfy their natural needs within the game. All were methods of dying both in the game and in real life. Not all of them had occurred to those who had already lost their lives to his twisted ambition. There were a lot of murmurs in the crowd, as people were in disbelief, and saying it didn't make sense, and people weren't able to log back in because of a death penalty not letting them log back into the game. Apparently doubt was erased when he provided proof through new reports he displayed through the internet connection.

This continued until he finally arrived at his explanation for how they could get out of the game. There was no easy way out. The goal, for everyone to get out, was to clear the game. Defeat all one hundred floors of Aincrad. As far as Ana was concerned, it wasn't impossible, but it was messed up. Kayaba Akihiko spiced up what he said, by ending off his explanation with welcoming everyone again, to "his world". She realized then, that what his goal from the beginning, was to play God. To have a world of his making become real, with real consequences that people would be forced to live in. Maybe it wasn't that completely intended, and he was just delusional or blinded in his own way from his perspective.

People were in an outrage, the thunder of conversations had returned. Apparently some point along the way, there was some item distributed to everyone, but it hadn't been distributed. Her eyes had been closed, but when he was vanishing, Ana's curiosity got to her, and she looked out, only to see that the people in the plaza within her vision were a lot more within realistic measure instead of all being protagonists or impressive heroes. There were thin beansprouts, there were overweight unhealthy people. There were men and boys in female starting gear. There were girls in male starting gear, and she realized, the reason she didn't get the item they had, was because she hadn't customized her appearance.

With a sigh of defeat, she put her head between her knees again, but she was immediately interrupted in her frustration by the sound of approaching footsteps. She could easily just assume the footsteps belonged to the same beta testers from before, maybe the same pursuer from before...but then there was another set of footsteps. The footsteps were lighter though, even though they were heavy with the weight of the situation they had been dumped into. Were those male avatars played by female players?

Her question was answered slightly in that a male voice belonging to a very confused new player called out to the two people in the lead. His voice was drowned out by a different, young female voice calling out toward the leaders. Ana could hear just where the sound was aimed, which was possibly something from the unlocked advanced perception.

"Onii-chan! Shino-chan! Thank goodness you're alright... I...I already saw someone die earlier just before the announcement... This is terrible... How is Mom handling this...? And Dad...?"

Ana's curiosity kept her eyes open and observing the situation. The short mismatched blond hair on a very...robust young figure was aiming those words at a very long haired, very feminine figure. That person was a boy? Did the item work on that person? There was oversized male gear on the figure. The even more oversized male gear on the short light blue haired girl beside him was even more disorienting. Was one of those two really male? Those words were aimed mostly at the black haired adorable one, so was that person really male? Ana's advanced perception activated and examined the properties of that person. The game recognized both of the teenagers as female. Maybe it was just a mistake?

The one who was obviously male, a beansprout of a guy who somewhat fit the red leather gear on him with facial scruff and red hair, spoke up after the girl with the mismatched blond hair.

" _Onii-chan?_ So one of you really is a boy? Short with super long black hair? No way... You're totally my type! And cute...why aren't you a girl...?"

Ana felt a hit to herself with that statement. She knew her past was long behind her, but she felt some kind of connection with that black haired teenager. Maybe the situation wasn't the same. Their interaction continued on. The blond haired girl continued forward and stomped at the feet of the scruffy guy. He definitely felt closer to Ana's age than their young teen age. It was honestly very disturbing to her that he was even trying. She knew that kind of person was around, but to flirt like that inside of a game? Well, it might be that he was just that stupid or **because** it were inside a game...

"Who is this pervert, onii-chan?"

Ana noticed some kind of pondering as to why the blond girl was even in the game from the black haired person, and it was followed up by something other than the ponder before leading into it.

"Sugu...first thing, is that we shouldn't be referring to real names here. Second, why are you in the game in the first place? I thought that at least you would be more into kendo than giving gaming a thought...but... haaah... Sugu, this is Klein. Sinon and I were helping him out until just before the forced teleport. He's a bit eccentric, but he's an interesting and kind of fun guy. Give him at least a bit of chance."

Ana could sense some kind of emotion in the situation. It was almost like she was getting her ability from outside a little. The blond girl who was apparently named Sugu, was in shock. Ana didn't know what for, but a wager of guess was that it might be a similarity that Ana and the black haired person had in common.

It sounded like the scruffy guy was going to persist with flirting with the black haired person, to which Ana was annoyed. The guy really needed to take a hint that he was intruding on a very emotional moment for the other three people. The black haired one seemed to have decided on something and began to explain.

"Klein...sorry. For me and Sinon, this was a way to get away from something difficult in our past. It's that way for a lot of people, right? Not just something to do for fun. Now that lives are on the line, and we're the only ones with experience clearing floors, we might need to lead the charge in order for as many people still here to get out. I already mentioned the difficulty scaling before, but if you weren't well armoured, you would have died out in the beginner fields. Before the full launch today, you didn't have to worry about being armoured. Sinon and I were the floor clearers from the beta test, so were able to go to the field without worries. Now...you should find your guild and make sure they receive that help from us to you. You should help them. Sinon and I aren't really experienced in teaching, and we have to concentrate on building ourselves first. Plus we have..."

The blond girl was glaring at the black haired one she had been calling onii-chan before. It became a very heated drama flick in a couple of seconds with the blond trying to fit in with the situation more. Apparently she had a light history with online gaming.

"Since we're using avatar names, we should get everyone's out and all add each other to our friend's list. We'll also be able to tell if we're all safe. Onii-chan, you accept mine first."

She started frantically sending friend requests to the people around her, and Ana was caught off guard when one of the requests had popped up in her view. Ana looked at her with a questioning feeling about her, but she sighed and pressed the accept button anyway. There was a surprised sound as the notification popped for the blond avatar named Leafa that Ana had accepted her friend request.

"Who's this _Ana_? I don't remember sending one to..."

She looked around again, and noticed the blind eyes staring back at her with a questioning gaze. Her confusion was interrupted by a surprised sound from the black haired one which also somehow showed up on Ana's friend list. All of them had. The speaker icon showed beside the name Kirito as they talked.

"Level five already?! I can understand if you were grinding non stop since the second the game launched, but you really became this much of a gamer?!"

Leafa's attention was pulled from Ana's blind eyes back to Kirito, and she had her own complaint.

"And you and Sinon were the famous floor clearers? Onii-chan!"

The conversation had steered away from Ana it seemed, as Leafa and the others seemed to not notice Ana. Leafa was admittedly cute. If her hair was a little longer or it was black like Kirito's hair, then there would be no mismatching awkward feeling to her appearance, but Ana was finding it strange that was her focus of Leafa. She was cute, which apparently led to the next comment from the scruffy Klein.

"Kirito...you're really a guy, so you understand right? Leafa is ridiculously cute! Totally my type too."

Ana could feel that Kirito became frustrated with him right away. Apparently, Kirito had some more similarity to Ana, being upset easily by perverts like Klein was. He bounced from one to the other of the three very feminine figures standing in front of him. It was like he was all hormones, with no way to let them out.

Ana sighed and closed her eyes. She'd had enough of the drama. Kirito started pulling Leafa and Sinon away into the alley, and noticed Ana for the first time. Ana had put her head between her knees again. Apparently Kirito was a very curious type, stopping to check if Ana was okay.

"Are...are you okay? Have you been here this whole time...? Ah, sorry you had to hear all that-"

Ana shook her head without raising her head.

"Kirito, that girl has blind eyes. Was that a setting in the character customization? I saw it before when I got confused seeing her name come up in the friend requests I sent out..."

Leafa brought up the topic from before. She hadn't forgotten, which Ana had honestly hoped for in the back of her mind. Kirito answered, apparently having looked through a great deal of the character customization to answer with confidence.

"There were some options which were close to blind...but how blind did you see her eyes. Um...Ana...san...? Can I see your eyes?"

Ana sighed and raised her head, opening her eyes looking straight forward. She wished she hadn't entertained her eyes so much in the virtual environment. She needed to stay used to using her ears, or she would be hopeless outside of the game when she would eventually get out...she...needed to help clear the game with everyone. To get out, hear Ryra's voice again and to bring her baby or babies into the world.

"You're...really blind in real life, aren't you? That's definitely not a setting from the customization. Are you okay, Ana-san? Are you able to see?"

Kirito sounded truly concerned for her, but she was nervous of using her voice. Any more of herself that she changed from real life, would make it all the more difficult to keep her mind stable. She nodded her head to answer Kirito, and sighed.

"So you can see...but are you really blind outside of the game?"

Another nod. She just wanted these drama seekers to leave her alone.

Kirito was really curious, and with Ana brought to attention, Klein had focused in on the other woman who had been there the whole time.

"Whoa! She's a beauty! Probably closer to my age too!"

Ana glared at him the instant he started talking about her.

"I'm engaged and pregnant. Go throw your prepubescent hormones at someone else your age."

Hearing her frustrated and...admittedly amazing response to Klein, everyone's attention was on her. Ana pushed herself to her feet. She couldn't just wait for them to leave if she wanted to be free of their drama. She started to walk away.

"Hey, Ana-san! Let us help you!"

Those words were from Leafa. Sinon seemed the whole time, to be silent and afraid of the circumstances, being trapped inside of the game. She was a bundle of nerves. Perhaps it was a similar feeling between Sinon and Ana toward the game in some sense. Ana was tempted to accept the offer of going with them, but she shook her head and continued away. First thing, she wanted to get a piece of gear that would hide her a little.

She ventured into the market street, and found a vendor where another girl about the age of those other teenagers was navigating her menu, and a cloak appeared over her, covering her head with a hood. Ana went right up to the vendor she had been walking away from, and she noticed that in the available inventory, there was a beginner's mantle, according to the naming sense of regular purchasable gear. She bought it, and put it on. Another girl, one with cat ears on her head was also heading to the vendor. She quickly bought the same cloak and put it on, hiding the cat ears completely. Ana could only guess at why the cat ears were there. One assumption, was that the NerveGear had picked them up when she had put them on. It was cute on her, but it was also admittedly something she would rather not be seen with in a game with thousands of people.

"What are you hiding?"

That question from the cat eared girl came with a curious and very...telling kind of voice. She was likely an information dealing type of gamer. Ana would rather not let her know that it was her blind eyes she was hiding, but she had moved in front of her before Ana could avoid showing her. The very feline features with the light brown hair and light brown eyes looked at her as if she had found a prize.

"A blind player! You're not really blind in here though if you're hiding your blind eyes. I heard from a beta player that eye hiding visors were really cool from one of the later floors. Just a free tip for you if you want to try it out. The visor doesn't block your vision, so you can go ahead and see anyway, unless...you don't want to see? Apparently that's an option with those too."

A friend request popped up in front of Ana, and the name of the person with cat ears named Argo became yet another sudden addition to her friends list in Sword Art Online. Ana felt horrible, like she was doing something wrong by going along with everything. What was worse, was going along with the pace of all the people who seemed around ten years younger than her aside the perverted Klein.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Ana-san. I'd be happy if you keep in contact and let me know any valuable information. May our friendship be mutually beneficial."

Argo had a definite experience playing an information dealer in games. She wore the persona like a custom tailored glove.

Ana realized. It seemed that aside Sinon, everyone else that she had met was adapting right into the game and they weren't brooding over being trapped. They were doing something to ensure they didn't feel trapped.

She would do the same, she thought. She would earnestly do her best to help get out of the game with everyone, and after waving a farewell to Argo, she walked along the market street to the exit gates she had stopped at with Ryra before, during the beta. The other girl who had purchased a cloak was standing there, staring out at a group of three, Kirito Leafa and Sinon were running along the main road out of the city together, and the other girl stared out at them.

"Why...?"

The young, perplexed voice of the girl beside Ana barely breathed out the word.

They stood beside each other for a moment, and eventually the girl looked at her. When the straight, long light brown haired girl noticed the blind eyes which weren't very well hidden by the cloak, she let out a gasp. She held back her curiosity though. She turned her face back toward the main road, looking on at the brave three who charged forward.

"Why? Do you know why we're all stuck in here?"

Ana knew she was being asked the question. She didn't want to answer, and her answer might not even be right. It was an assumption based off of the bit she had learned about him. When the words tumbled out of her mouth, she felt even more depressed. Her body in the virtual environment was just going along with her mess of emotions.

"He did it to feel like a God. Put us in as he called it, his world, where every move, every action, every choice matters, and where every mistake can lead to something out of our control, like making this our new real life. It's...terrible."

The girl turned to face Ana again, and she had many changes of her expression as she thought about the answer she received. She didn't know how to respond to the words she heard. Eventually, her voice came out, and she asked something else.

"Then do we just go along with it? Do we play this game like he wants? Do we waste our lives away in here? What about our lives outside?"

Ana was reminded again of her circumstances outside. She closed her eyes, and tears streamed down. The words wouldn't come out, that she was ready to tell the girl beside her about her situation outside of the game, but for once the game didn't push her to say the words, so she kept them to herself.

"Let's...try and get out. Together."

Yet another friend request popped up in front of Ana's vision. From a girl whose name was Asuna. Ana led the way out of the main gate, and Asuna stuck beside her. Along the road, they would meet monsters, but between experience the both of them had outside of the game with combat, Ana's intuition helped her strike down enemies, while Asuna wielded her short sword improperly, like a rapier. Their inexperience in wielding their weapons, eventually became a little comfortable by the time they reached a small town along the road.


	5. Chapter 5

~Dealing with Hunger~

Ana had known from the beginning that regardless if they ate in the game, it wouldn't effect her hunger outside of the game, so she had nearly forgotten, and apparently so had Asuna, that they needed to eat. There had for whatever reason been a hunger system implemented into the game which made them feel weakness and their hit points began to drop at a consistent pace.

They stopped grinding for experience, and Ana immediately went into her inventory when she found them a safe spot out of aggro range of the monsters in their experience grinding location. Ana found and started experimenting quickly with many materials and ingredients in her inventory, and after a minute, a hundred points out of the fifteen hundred points had depleted, but she finished putting together a cup of fruit salad which she shared with Asuna. Each of them with a cup of the fruit salad, managed to barely stave off the hunger. At least their health was no longer dropping.

"We...should probably go back to that town and visit the bakery. The food isn't too expensive."

Ana didn't want to spend the game currency on food. She would rather cook, and it seemed Asuna was having conflicting thoughts about buying the game food as well. Ana had to agree though. They had to at least go back to the town, and find out if they could use NPC kitchens so Ana could make them food.

The two of them felt pain while they walked. They weren't losing hit points any more, but it was a commonality with real life. When you're at a certain stage of hunger, even staving it off a little will only invite pain until the hunger is really dealt with. The two of them reached the town, and Ana recognized Argo waiting around and conversing with the three familiar teenagers Ana had met in the alley in the Town of Beginnings. Ana ignored it, since Argo could have been selling them information.

Ana headed toward the bakery, and Asuna continued along with her. Her gaze had also fallen on the group talking with Argo. She had a feeling about her which told Ana that she wondered why Ana would look at them.

Sometimes, Ana would close her eyes while fighting. It was incredibly risky, but she had found out her advanced perception was really helping out with it. She couldn't always keep her eyes closed, but she didn't have too much a problem with not seeing. It was natural for her after all. She had to keep her condition outside of the game in mind, so she reminded herself very frequently that she needed to continue blind.

Her eyes were confused often as well, and keeping her eyes closed through it made it easier. There were things that her eyes wouldn't understand, and for those, it was better not to see them...or was it?

They arrived in the bakery, and Ana made her way to the NPC, ready to ask her question.

"Can we use your kitchen?"

Ana was straight to the point. Asuna had assumed they were just going to buy food, but her excitement showed through when the NPC nodded their head. Ana learned then that she had their hobby for cooking in common. While Ana prepared more ingredients from her inventory and other materials, Asuna had grown close and finally noticed something she hadn't been looking for before. They had been concentrating so much on their fighting after all, that making sure they were safe and able to handle the monsters was more important. Asuna saw the multitude of scars on Ana's hands, and when she took another glance to Ana's face, seeing her eyes, she was reminded that the person beside her had her own circumstances, and it was amazing that she could share her hobby with such a person.

"What kind of ingredients and materials are you using? I'd like to compare notes on it. I'd like to make something myself."

Asuna's impulsive question to Ana brought more of a friendly air between them. Ana showed her inventory selection of what she was pulling out and putting together for her dish, and Asuna was confused.

"All of this is so confusing. Do they act like something from real life?"

Ana nodded her head, and she mixed a few ingredients after breaking one material down into powder. She finished, and held the little cup of whipped semi-fluid, which Asuna touched with the tip of her finger, and with another look at Ana, took a taste. She immediately recognized the taste.

"Butter?!"

Ana nodded her head and smiled. She produced another list of ingredients and materials, which Asuna was curious what they would turn into. The fluffy dough which was produced was almost a dead give away when Ana put it into the oven, and leaned against the wall beside the oven. Asuna looked at Ana with a new found respect. She didn't know when Ana had the time to figure out how to make these foods inside of the game, so she readied herself to ask the question.

"Ana-san, how did you find out about these mixtures turning into these foods?"

Ana sighed, and nodded her head to signal she was ready to finally use her voice in conversation between them again and answer.

"The ingredients and materials share similarities to the same thing in other games, and this game feels a lot like a game my fiancee and I play together. The whole cooking section feels the exact same since this is working perfectly based off of my experience there. Care to guess what kind of bread this would taste like? Or do you know any Canadian recipes?"

Asuna was surprised to hear that the recipe for the bread came from Canada. She waited for the answer, to which Ana answered with a smile.

"It's tang bread, which uses a regular bread base, and adds in tang flavoured food extract, which I got from making the fruit salad before as a leftover. A tang bread which was exclusive to my home town in Canada fresh out of the oven was the best treat I grew up with. Very filling too, so I only ever got a slice for dessert long after dinner. It's also a favourite of my fiancee..."

Asuna smiled with a happy feeling about her, she sighed at a thought, and shook her head before explaining.

"You want to get out of this fast then, to get back to your fiancee?"

Ana nodded her head, and raised her hands which were resting at her sides over her belly as well. Asuna couldn't contain her excitement as she noticed the gesture, but she held herself back from becoming too familiar. She was still nervous about becoming too close to a stranger inside of the game. Ana didn't feel like a stranger to her though. It was strange.

"I have too much reason to hurry out of the game, to safely deliver our baby. I had a feeling logging into the game would be a mistake, but..."

Asuna shook her head.

"You couldn't just ignore it, right? It's his fault alone, that man who trapped us in here."

Ana knew it was the case. Her instincts also ended up putting her into the game though, so she couldn't pin all of the blame on him. She was worried about how her body was really doing on the other side. Was she healthy? Was she really in Ryra's hospital? Was Ryra close to figuring out why Ana was trapped? Were they making any progress in finding a way out from their end? She was most concerned though, about the baby which might not have even been a success. She had a desperation in her to be a mother, and being in the game put that entirely at risk.

"What's your fiancee like?"

Asuna was really curious, and she seemed to be uncomfortable with the silence between them when they weren't fighting the monsters of the game. Ana was a little caught off by the question, but she smiled and closed her eyes, calling back the memory of what Ryra looked like in the game.

"She...is beautiful. Taller than me by six inches, has long straight hair like yours, but hers is really dark, which I only found out during the beta. She's...strong, and she managed to catch me off guard when I saw her for the first time. She's a doctor, Ryra Winter. We already share our last name. She took the surname from my family before we moved to Japan. Through her medical knowledge, we found out how to have a baby between the both of us. She hardly has the chance to come home recently...but I guess that's my position now. She spent a lot of her time in medical school trying to figure out how to get my vision back, but nothing quite worked. One mistake took my voice from me outside, to the point I can only force out painful whispers once in a while, but it's fine. She was trying so hard at it for so long, and after I lost my voice, she put some time into figuring out how we could be parents together. It didn't take her very long to figure it out though. It took longer to find a good opportunity to put what she found together, and on Friday, she did the procedure on me. I'm rushed to get out, because I made the risk I shouldn't have, and put our baby at risk. I don't even know if the procedure worked, but I can't ignore the likelihood that my instinct to come into this game was probably one of my worst mistakes so far. I do, but I don't regret it."

Asuna was emotional over Ana's explanation. She felt she recognized Ryra's name, but she let Ana continue explaining instead of interrupting. She took a deep breath and sighed at the end. She was very impacted by Ana's situation. At first, she was so worried about her own circumstances being trapped in the game, but if Ana was being so strong and adaptive right beside her through it with the immense mountain of issues she was dealing with, she was determined to do her best and continue beside her.

The door of the bakery opened, which distracted Asuna from replying to Ana's long explanation. There was one person who entered through the door of the bakery, who both of them recognized, but on different degrees, and one recognized Kirito more than the other. Asuna had only seen Kirito from behind before, leaving the Town of Beginnings earlier that evening. Ana didn't engage in conversation, turning back to the oven, calling up a window to check how long the bread would take to finish. It was almost ridiculous how perfect the timing was. Kirito had turned attention to the NPC shop owner and asked if using the kitchen was fine, to which another mechanical happy nod was the response. Ana pulled the finished tang bread out of the oven, and buttered it after cutting it in half, handing half over to Asuna. Kirito stared at the tang bread as Asuna and Ana ate their shares.

"Did Ana-san find her younger sister? You look better than you were before. I'm glad you're doing better."

Ana looked away from Kirito and gave space to use the oven. Kirito pulled a half dozen bread out of the inventory and placed it in the oven, setting it for half a minute before turning back to them. Kirito nodded when taking another look at them.

"Yup, both wearing a hood, both with long hair, and both are beautiful. The only difference is that Ana-san looks foreign. Are you half siblings?"

Kirito didn't hold back on the speculations, and was well thought on the words used. Asuna was flush with embarrassment, and Ana shook her head, wondering where the sense of observation had come from. The observation and guess could be made by anyone, but they had very few features aside their choice of wearing the beginner hood and their hair being long as similar. Kirito was good at using butter up words, but their differences were too many.

Asuna seemed to think of a reply to Kirito, and she smiled at Ana before looking back at Kirito.

"Ana-san would make a wonderful onee-chan, but we're not related. Do you like cooking too?"

Kirito gave a frantic nod and looked intensely back at the oven, which notified that the warm up was done.

"I still need to get used to the ingredients and materials in this game before I go all out with my cooking, but at least for now heating up the basic bread and putting butter on it will be better than the base cardboard taste. Warning, don't eat the base level food unless you want to ruin your sense of taste. Exactly like cardboard...with less texture. So gross. You have no idea how excited I was to hear of the quest for butter. That's where you got yours from, right?"

Kirito was full of conversation. Asuna was fine with talking about cooking, and so would Ana, but she became aware again of how her voice was gone in real life and how deprived she would feel when she would return outside of the game, that she might forget when outside again, that she would have grown used to speaking normal, and then ruin her throat even more.

"But Ana-san made our butter from ingredients we got from fighting the monsters outside of town. What quest are you talking about? We haven't done any quests yet..."

Ana joined in there, ready to intervene in any assumptions being made.

"I only led us to fighting the monsters outside of town because of my sense for this game which came from the other game I mentioned playing before. Quests can waste a lot of time, since monsters around an area can drop the ingredients and materials to make whatever it is you would do the quest for."

Kirito nodded and smiled at Ana.

"So Ana-san is an experienced gamer. Were you part of the beta? Or are you just talking about a different MMO altogether? It's super interesting you could play a regular MMO while being blind..."

Ana was annoyed. She hadn't let it get to her yet, but she was easily frustrated by people who constantly brought up her being blind. She retorted his comment about her being blind.

"This blind woman led raid parties in the MMO I played."

She mentioned a little more about it, and Kirito stared in surprise.

"Your avatar in that game...wouldn't happen to also be called Ana, would it?"

Kirito was beyond excited, almost forgetting about the bread which had been warmed up in the oven. Asuna pointed them out, and Kirito sighed. Ana nodded her head in response to her avatar's name being the same as hers in the other game, to which Kirito grew even more excited.

"The one person who made all the raid parties angry on so many occasions with the partner player, Ryra. Breaking clear record times, teaching raid parties how to better tune their strategy after the content would have been more than a month out. Those professional people who earn money competing against each other were freaking out so much whenever you returned online. Apparently you returned again a month ago, then disappeared before doing the new raid content. Was there a reason for returning?"

Ana was flustered by how famous her and Ryra's actions in the game had been. Some random gamer she met in Sword Art Online had been a fan? It felt like too much a coincidence.

"Hey, would you meet with my good friend Sinon? She has the blue hair from the time we met earlier. She's also a big fan. It might help her to know one of her favourite gamers is here with us. She's been so nervous ever since the announcement earlier. Ah...and sorry, but I should introduce myself properly after all that stuff earlier. I'm Kirito, and despite my appearance, I'm a boy."

Ana and Asuna were equally startled by Kirito's last statement. That he was a boy. Ana had thought a bit that Kirito had been someone who intended to change themselves like she had. She could tell though, that Kirito wasn't lying. It didn't take long to register it though, and grow used to the revelation.

"Is Kirito really a boy? That seems unlikely with how pretty-"

"I'm a boy. I just...have circumstances."

Asuna was caught off guard by the word used to explain it away. Ana was reminded that the advanced perception before and even now still said that Kirito was a female. Was it that the game had made Kirito female? If Kirito skipped over something in the scan and his mind were confused about himself, then it was very easy for the computing to cover what hadn't been scanned with the most likely situation. Kirito looked entirely female on first glance. Very underdeveloped, but that was no reason to say whether female or male. The long silky black hair could easily just be that he had reasons to keep or grow his hair long. The feminine movements and mannerisms weren't convincing for his case though. Being a cook had nothing to do with it, but there were countless small gestures and habits which were very feminine. Asuna was definitely not convinced. Ana could imagine circumstances, but she was also speculative on Kirito's actual standpoint.

All finished with the bakery, Kirito urged them to meet with Leafa and Sinon who were waiting on the edge of a small garden. Leafa noticed Kirito leaving the bakery and nudged Sinon. Ana recognized who was who, but Asuna didn't know them yet as far as she knew.

Kirito led them right up in front of Leafa and Sinon, and he encouraged them to introduce themselves to Asuna and Ana. Leafa recognized Ana after looking past the hood she was wearing.

"Oh, it's Ana-san!"

Sinon's attention was drawn up from her mood which kept her vision pointed at the ground.

Sinon didn't say anything, she just waited for something to happen. Leafa broke the awkward silence by introducing herself to Ana and Asuna properly.

"I'm Su-Leafa! S-sorry. Still not used to this online etiquette. I'm Kirito's younger cousin outside of the game."

Leafa looked at Sinon after introducing herself, and she poked her gently to see if she was responsive. Sinon exhaled a little sound of tension popping, and she followed it up with a deep breath and a sigh.

"I'm...Sinon. Kirito and me are childhood friends."

With the introductions done, Kirito dragged Sinon's attention back up, he stood beside Ana and got ready to tell Sinon more about her, but Asuna continued with the introductions, ignoring his attempt at making everyone best friends.

"I'm Asuna. I'm still new to video games, and logged in out of curiosity on my older brother's NerveGear. It's nice to meet you. Now, is Kirito really a boy? It seems so hard to believe..."

Leafa burst out laughing at the question. It had been difficult for her to accept outside of the game, but for some reason, Asuna's heavy scepticism of Kirito being male was like a breath of fresh air after how heavy it had been since the announcement before.

"Kirito is definitely a boy. He's my onii-chan...kind of. I've just always called Kirito onii-chan. I've been telling him for years to get his hair cut, but I've been wondering lately if it would even matter, since some people still look like girls, even cuter with short hair depending on the style. What's worse, is that all three of us go to an all girls-"

Kirito panicked and tried to stop Leafa from finishing what she was saying, but he couldn't stop her.

"..high school."

Leafa finished, and Kirito fell to his knees with a very hot embarrassed feeling coming off of him. His head must be burning, having such a thing told to strangers.

"Now I know Kirito's a girl. Those schools don't allow boys for any reason."

Sinon sighed and looked back to the ground.

"Ah, right! Sinon, Ana-san who we met earlier before leaving the Town of Beginnings! I found out in the bakery that, you know, from our favourite MMO before this, she's the same Ana who with Ryra had the whole raiding community scrambling whenever they logged on! Isn't that exciting?"

Sinon looked up a little with a questioning look, to Kirito who was still on the ground, currently pushed up into a sitting position. Her eyes were filled with a questioning expression asking him if it was really the case.

"She was the one who wrote the cooking guide in that game, and she made this super interesting bread in the bakery her and Asuna already ate. There's no doubt. She even apparently used the same knowledge from that game to make the bread here."

Sinon was less sceptical and looked up toward Ana. She hadn't yet seen what she heard about the blind eyes that Kirito and Leafa had mentioned before, so when she saw those blind eyes returning her gaze, she was surprised it was real.

"You're really her? Who is Ryra to you? How would you play blind?"

Those three questions seemed to be Sinon's conditions for believing Ana was who she was in the other game.

"I am...I really dislike how much more social I'm required to be here, especially with all the talk about my being blind. It was so much less a problem being brought up there, and Ryra is my fiancee."

Sinon's eyes sparkled with her interest ignited. She stood up and walked past Kirito to her, reaching out and grabbing Ana's hands to shake them.

"It's an honour to meet the famous Ana of the Raid. Is Ryra here too? Why isn't Ryra here with you right now?"

Ana sighed and resigned to her fate of explaining everything to the starry eyed girl who was otherwise in a mental and emotional mess before meeting Ana.

"Ryra isn't in the game, because we were going to hand over our NerveGears to the police so that they could send people into this game and have them stop people from risking their lives, but my instinct and slip of thought put me in the game instead of sending mine to them. Ryra is most likely overseeing my health as my doctor in the hospital outside. This was supposed to be her first big weekend off in months..."

Sinon became sympathetic to the situation for Ana's end. Ana had almost completely forgotten that it really had been Ryra's first weekend off in such a long time. Part of a day once in a while over most of the time they had been in Japan was such a dismally small amount of time together, and she felt bad cutting the time short with her impulsive and worry filled action.

"It's a big topic to mention...but Ana is pregnant too, so we should really work together and try to clear the game together so she can safely have her baby."

The sudden mention from Asuna warmed Ana a little. She didn't know how to feel about that being brought up, but she was happy that it really did encourage everyone to work together. Asuna seemed to be getting along with Leafa, and she was at least interested in Kirito and Sinon. Ana felt like somehow...they might be forming a guild. She was uncomfortable in any MMO experience to date, being related to a guild or gathering of players specifically. She was only fine with leading the odd raid group alongside Ryra or playing with her alone.

Ana...she let them go about all being in a party together. However, when Ana was added to the party, she received another notification. That Kirito was promoting her to party leader.

"It's going to be such a great experience to have the famous raid leader leading our party. Even this Aincrad won't stand a chance against us together."

Kirito was unfortunately enthusiastic. Ana turned to him and seriously considered his action. She left the promotion notification open. She hadn't accepted or denied it yet.

"I heard before. You and Sinon had cleared the floors during the beta, right? A raid should really be led by the most experienced. I can learn and help as we go, but you should be the party leader, Kirito. You brought everyone together."

He shook his head and laughed.

"No, Ana is definitely the one who brought us all together. Asuna wouldn't be part of the group without Ana, and everyone respects Ana. I can keep the position if it bothers you, but like usual with those raid groups you'll eventually end up leading."

Kirito's argument was...Ana sighed and tapped the accept option on the notification.

"So, what suggestion do you have for the night, Ana-san?"

Kirito was determined to have Ana show her ability with the game, but she had another idea since Kirito had already given the push to make her the leader.

"Well, since we need sleep regardless while we're in the game or we'll become exhausted, we should break the party and each get a room at an inn in this town. Ah, the reason for breaking the party, is that it's most likely if we don't break the party, we'd be stuck sharing a room under one charge at the inn. Unless everyone is fine sharing a room with Kirito. I'd prefer a room on my own though, considering my relationship with Ryra."

Ana said that, and she was about to break the party, but she stopped when she noticed everyone else aside Asuna were panicking to try and stop her from breaking the team.

"We could train together a little though. Let's take on the area boss outside of town and I'll measure how everyone is with their movement and mechanics here. I assume Kirito Sinon and Leafa are experienced with this game already since you were also beta testers. I never played on my beta test, so I still need to learn. I'll provide healing support with items."

Kirito was curious why she suggested fighting an area boss when she was only learning. He wondered just how fast a learner Ana was.

"I'll main tank once I've learned the fight enough to take front."

With that last statement, she took lead, heading out of the small town to the plains area just beyond the farming area her and Asuna had been using before. Surprisingly, everyone's levels were close. Kirito had a chance to realize just how fast a learner she was. Most people wouldn't know how to navigate virtual aggro zones, but Ana was smoothly guiding them past all of the hostile monsters on the way there. He was impressed, but his mind jumped to how it should be that way when she had been there for a few hours...he didn't know how to put his thoughts in order about how to gauge her ability. When they arrived at a point where she stopped, only the area boss, a giant red boar in front of them, Ana turned and looked back at them.

"Here's the aggro line. Whoever feels confident in starting the tank role, go ahead. I'll provide healing support until I'm measured up."

Kirito was sceptical. How did she know the boss' aggro zone so accurately? There was no literal line to see in order to determine it, so he could only imagine there might be a skill she unlocked to understand it. In reality, she knew the aggro range based off of the experience from the other game. She had noticed a lot of similarities between the other game's mechanics and Sword Art Online as soon as she had a chance to measure some small things such as attack patterns and how large the beginner hostile monsters aggro range was. It was simple, but Kirito was over thinking it.

Kirito took a step forward, ready to charge in and show her how well he could play, and to his slight surprise, the boss immediately turned to him the moment Kirito stepped past Ana. Kirito grinned and charged forward. He activated the sonic leap skill to add more speed to his approach, and quickly landed a strike in a blind spot on the boar. He followed up by dodging a tusk stabbing attack toward him. There was sign of inexperience immediately just listening to his steps and the inconsistency in his movements. He had some experience with fighting, but he wasn't using it. Perhaps it was because of the system's skill uses? It seemed the case as it continued. Ana had her eyes closed, and she was feeling it out with her ears and her advanced perception skill the game gave her. It was actually quite useful, but only in the sense that it gave her the chance to lock onto one target for a time with understanding of how they were moving and their patterns. Kirito had no patterns, he was just adjusting to the situation and dodging when required, blocking when unavoidable. It would be impressive, if she couldn't tell he had some experience with another fighting style. As for Leafa and Sinon, they were both doing better, but they weren't really using many skills. They were also likely trained in the same type of combat, which gave away how badly Kirito was ruining his training. He must not care much for his combat training outside of the game...

Asuna had held back and watched them as they whittled down the boss' health. She looked at Ana, wondering how long it would take for her to go in and add her power to the fight. She could see the boss' health bar, and it wasn't dropping very fast. She had a feeling that Kirito Leafa and Sinon would be tired soon if they didn't have backup, so she went up to support them, but after one step forward, Ana ran up. Asuna took a look at Ana's face as she ran past, and her eyes were closed. Asuna wondered just how a blind person would handle a fight against a new opponent. Asuna did have some experience with fencing in the past, but when she saw Ana rush past her, she wondered just what kind of training Ana must have done to be so composed and swift.

Ana burst past Kirito, snatching away aggro with a single critical hit, slashing through the right side of the boar's neck. Ana didn't even use a skill, but the amount of damage, even considering it a critical strike, were as if she had used a skill. Ana was better using her instincts and moving her body the way it would for a situation, using her ears to judge her surroundings and her opponents, than most people judged when using their eyes. She could hear things the eyes of others would never make out, and it so happened that even in the game, there were tiny sounds and tells in the movements which allowed her to continue rapidly stunning and striking through critical points of the boss monster. She didn't use one skill, and the flurry of seemingly perfect fighting style slashes depleted the health bar of the boar like it had taken a single strike from an overpowered player, the smoothness of the hit points dropping made Kirito Leafa and Sinon stand back and stare in shock. The proof Ana was more than just some amazing player of an MMO Kirito and Sinon had been invested in before.

"Not one...not a single skill was used. What kind of fighting style was that Ana-san? I've never seen anything like that..."

Kirito was so flustered he just had to ask.

"I have no formal sword play training. You could ask Asuna how badly I was handling combat before. Ah, and she needs a rapier. Would you happen to know where that weapon type would be found or sold? Or should I just start investing into my crafting skills early?"

Further stun. Ana's words literally inflicted the stun status to their avatars. Asuna definitely could vouch for how messy Ana had been moving around before. It were as if she had switched with a professional swordswoman when she charged up to the boss monster. She hadn't even shown that level of skill toward the end of their grinding before. The sudden burst of ability had her questioning just how incredible Ana was.

Ana shook her head, and sighed.

"No decent drops from this monster. Let's split it for the carry weight and I'll use the materials for increasing my crafting level."

Ana moved her right hand and fingers swiftly, distributing the drops from the boss, and passing the party lead to Kirito before leaving it and heading back toward the town. Everyone stared after her as if she was some sort of illusion.

Asuna noticed as Ana walked past her, her eyes were still closed. She had done everything there with her eyes closed, even operating the menu. She was truly blind, and she easily overpowered any damage the rest of them could do.

They followed Ana's perfect avoidance of the aggro of the hostile monsters back to the town, and they looked at each other with disbelief. Ana went straight toward the inn, and they slumped together onto benches in the middle of the very small town. It would be more accurate to call the dozen well organized and placed buildings a village than a town, but the label of the place was that it was a town.

"Just who is Ana-san?"

Kirito asked that question, but he seemed to ask it rhetorically. He shook his head and smiled.

"We'll be just fine with her around. I wonder if she's the type who'll do crafting practice in her inn room before going to bed. She seems like the type of person who does everything available all at once in a game, levelling everything up. She must have levelled up her hearing at least a few levels to be confident in not using her eyes."

Asuna was unhappy with Kirito making so many assumptions about her. Asuna knew a little more personal information about Ana, which she understood in some part of her that it wasn't exactly something to be proud of. She felt she had to warn him off from pushing Ana. She was only one person after all, and she was determined to get out of the game as soon as possible for both the sake of Ryra, and their baby.

"You should consider her more. Ana is only one person, and she has personal reasons she might end up pushing us all away if you push her too much. Personally, I'd understand wanting to leave us from her end. She's not a social kind of person, yet we ended up pushing her to talk with us. She isn't a babysitter, yet from the moment you realized who she was, you pushed her to lead us. She's an anxious person, and it took some effort for her just to talk to me at first. I think I can see now, that Kirito really is a boy. After all, you didn't consider what was more important to her. It isn't getting out, but getting the her out that she entered the game as."

Kirito, Leafa and Sinon all looked down with a guilty feeling stabbing at them, realizing that they had all considered Ana a quick trip through the game, but none of them really considered Ana as a person. Leafa and Sinon wondered at just how much they could redeem themselves, but they felt as if they might not get the chance.


	6. Chapter 6

~Craftswoman~

Kirito was right about Ana being the prepared type of person, the multi-tasker, levelling everything worth levelling at a steady pace. The crafting part of the game should be about the same importance as it was in the other game which much of Sword Art Online took information from.

Ana levelled whatever crafting she had obtained materials for through the first day. It seemed for the time being, that she couldn't make Asuna a rapier, since she hadn't come across any metals while they were fighting earlier. It seemed that they needed to fight enemies with weapons or mineral enemies like golems. Gather raw materials from the environment.

For the time being, Ana could however concentrate on alchemy and putting together ingredients for cooking. There was little else. The very earliest leather crafting and tailoring could be worked on as well, but it also required on those that she acquire the proper tools to perform them, which she didn't have. So, she organized her inventory for when the time would come for her to work on those. Getting cooking ingredients ready and doing the very basics of alchemy were fine. It was easy to make potions in the early levels for alchemy, be they for healing hit points, stopping status ailments and treating wounds, or something else that might turn out to be trouble. Later, she would be able to do things such as dyeing their gear. What was more important, in a game that was intended to not have magic, was the enchantment system which was included in the alchemy levelling tree. That, would be where true overpowering in the game would come from. Temporary enchantments, and permanent enchanting for all types of gear. It truly was something that shouldn't be in the game unless Kayaba had been a mechanical nightmare in design for the later floors of the game. She wondered on that as she finished putting together the preparations for her alchemy work, everything else sorted and ready.

Ana was concerned about climbing into the bed in the end. She wondered just how it would effect her to sleep within the game. She knew she needed to, and there was a positive to sleeping at an inn, paying for the lodging. There was a bonus at early levels for crafting experience of five experience per craft until the next time the player would sleep. It wasn't a lot, but it was better than nothing. It would be very valuable later, unless there were more bonuses to experience earned in different inns later in the game.

Ana also wondered...what if sleeping in the game would be the key? It was a baseless wonder, and she brushed it off after cleaning up her crafting mess. She climbed into the bed, a bundle of nerves and anxiety. It wasn't a real bed. It wasn't her bed in Canada, and it wasn't the bed she had grown used to in Japan with Ryra sometimes joining her. It was a lonely, devoid of comfort existence within the game which allowed her to hit a button and fall asleep.

There were also sleeping bags and camping items which could be used out in the fields. In fact, there was a trait later in the leather and tailoring crafts, where if they were equally levelled, there were sets that could be crafted for camping, and they could provide custom benefits to using them, sleeping in them or whatever. Cooking was also extremely useful later, not just providing a fill on hunger. Cooking could also provide addition to multiple different stats, including the hearing skills; any perceptions skills really, to adding strength; other base parameters, or giving a boost in stamina and base energy like some foods in real life could do. It was, aside from the added effects for the virtual environment, essentially the same as any other game with consumable temporary boost items.

Her sleep inside of the game was basically a short pause. There was little that the programmers could do for programming sleep into the game, so blocking out the mental processing during the process of sleep was the most likely solution. She woke up, and all she felt was a little less tired than she was before going to bed. She didn't feel groggy since there was no mucus processing inside of the game. There were no tear stains around her eyes, because of again, the absence of mucus.

Ana was all ready to go right out and continue where the party left off before, but only physically as her avatar. Not emotionally or mentally. With her mind and emotions, she was closer to the verge of trying to play the game solo and just work as an information broker like Argo, and selling crafted gear to the top groups instead of battling alongside those people who seemed to like to drag on conversations. She could tell with confidence, that there were very few people within the game who had the base level of ability as Kirito, Leafa and Sinon. The front lines of progressing the journey up through Aincrad would end up being mostly people who would learn to work together as a team, and they would form a decent, well calculated skill jumbling group of raid players in other MMOs. Not hardcore raiders, at least not many. Even hardcore raiders would have a difficult time outside of shot calling in the large battles in Aincrad, because of the physical demand, and how low on average gamers' physical health state was.

The more she thought about it, she realized the more valuable those people, and people like herself who could push out their inner strengths, and her especially rare talent of triggering the finest points of adrenaline even within the game to perform unbelievable acts, such as her destruction of the boss the evening before. It was entirely exhausting, to push her adrenaline that hard. Even if it wasn't her real body, it was still too exhausting for any normal person to walk off. She almost completely walked it off, but she was physically exhausted to the point that she was ready to sleep a few days and tell everyone else to clear the game without her.

Another reminder, a little tingle in her belly within the avatar, and she was reminded of Ryra and their baby or possible babies growing in her. She needed to contribute whatever she could comfortably handle, so for Ryra and their baby, she could return outside of the game. Sooner hopefully rather than later.

With the push to herself, she steeled herself for the conversations those teenagers were likely to try and pull her into, and opened the door. The other side of the door was about normal and understandable. It was just the second floor hallway which expanded in either direction, showing a half dozen doors which would house any number of people, determined by the size of a party who would purchase the room together.

Ana tread her way down the hall, light on her feet to the end which sounded to descend to the main floor. The main floor was silent, only the sound of squeaking as a cloth polished a glass at a bar, and the empty hums of the familiar voiced inn keep NPC filled the air. They were the only two who would be up at any hour of the day. Ana had only set for herself to sleep six hours. She wondered if the teenagers had maybe only taken two hours or a little more sleep than her, but as if talking to a random response machine, she turned her question of where everyone from her party was on the inn keep.

"Excuse me, could you tell me if people lodging under the names, Asuna, Kirito, Leafa or Sinon have left yet, and if they have where they left for?"

Ana had some instinct telling her that the inn keep wouldn't tell her because of coding, but she received an immediate response which surprised her.

"Miss Kirito is still in her room, and so are the other guests you mentioned."

Ana shook her head in disbelief, and she nodded her head, whispering a word of thanks to the inn keep. She turned toward the bar where a well dressed man wearing a monocle, with thin, middle parted dark brown hair and a British kind of feel to his design, and she stood at the counter, ready to ask as she sensed a kitchen on the other side of the wall behind him.

"Can I use the kitchen?"

The bartender nodded his head with a smile, and as he waved a hand toward the door which led into the kitchen, she followed his gesture, and she smiled, giving a polite light bow as had become habit with the picking up of Japanese customs.

The kitchen in the inn...felt a lot more complete than the bakery she had used the night before. But then, it was a multipurpose kitchen, so it would only make sense for it to be more equipped. The issue she had with it, was the sense that it would be her dream kitchen. She would never want to leave it if she were to open her eyes and take it in.

She shook her head, and continued in. She started separating the ingredients and materials she had prepared into a decent portion for the whole party for breakfast, and she smiled as she found there was enough left that she could easily prepare lunch ahead of time as well. They would need to grind for more materials and ingredients while they would be out for the day. She also wanted to try and find some monsters which would drop ores and other metals, and buy some base level crafting equipment. So that she could better arm herself for the crafting trades.

She busied herself with the kitchen, not opening her eyes once. It was strange to her. Not being blind while doing everything. That much was natural. The strange feeling came from needing to close her eyes in order to be blind. It was a struggle to try and keep her eyes closed. She really wanted to find the visor that Argo had mentioned before from the beta test which could block vision. So that she wouldn't need to worry about changing how she would react to her state of blindness.

Ana didn't want to be too different from how she was, from entering to exiting the game. It was something that she had been dancing around in her thoughts, but it was the unavoidable, and total truth. There was no reason to avoid it either. She was ready to convey to the party that she would rather not lead, not speak, and not be given reason to use her virtual eyes. It was a strange set of requests, but they belonged to her, and they were an important part of keeping her mind stable.

She packed the ready lunches, moved the finished breakfast to plates supplied by the inn, and she peeked out into the lobby, aiming a question at the bartender.

"Have any guests left yet?"

With a shake of the head, telling her that they hadn't left, she nearly grumbled in her frustration, but she corrected herself with a sigh. The food wouldn't be as enjoyable since it wouldn't be freshly cooked anymore technically, but she moved the meals into her inventory, and she cleaned up the kitchen quickly before heading out, confirming the party hadn't left yet, and she headed up to knock at the doors of their rooms. She had to hope that they would set emergency alarms to wake them such as disturbance at the inn door, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get them out on her own. Thankfully with the first door, Kirito answered after a good ten seconds of struggling to the door, and the very surreal image of who was supposed to be male according to testimony from Leafa and Sinon aside himself, was sporting a very female figure in the base pyjama clothing.

Ana sighed and turned around, despite her eyes being closed through his arrival.

"Ah...ah! Ana-san! What time is it?!"

Ana sighed again and she waited for Kirito to remember his brain. The time was right in the top of his peripheral vision, just like everyone else.

"Crap...is anyone else up?"

Ana shook her head, noting when he was aiming his face toward her.

"Darn it...this is basically prime time for grinding and questing. I'm not surprised Ana-san is up at this time, but I'm disappointed in myself for sleeping in!"

Kirito made it a point to scold himself for his lack of proper sleep timing. Perhaps, Ana thought, these teenagers actually slept their normal eight hours.

Kirito arrived at the door again, and tapped a foot twice, a sign Ana recognized as a "ready" in basic sound signals. She stepped away from the door and turned to face him. Kirito sighed when he noticed her eyes were still closed.

Ana was very curious about Kirito's very female figure which wasn't hidden from her full scan because of the lack in armour being worn. There was no sense of a manhood being attached to the avatar, while there was a sense for womanhood being there, and there were...barely there, breasts. Kirito's avatar was definitely female, so if the reality was he was in fact male outside of the game, then there was a mistake in the calibration.

The tension was there.

"You saw...didn't you?"

Kirito didn't even bother waiting for an answer, remembering how quiet she had been the night before. After the business with the boss, Ana had taken off after all. He was worried about her opinion on Kirito's situation. He had seen her eyes closed, but that didn't necessarily mean anything was hidden as far as Ana's senses. He was still unsure on her perception levels. He had only increased his sight level and hidden detection level by one each, which he had figured was impressive in a game like SAO.

"I don't mean...I know your eyes were closed, but you know right? What the game did to me?"

Ana nodded her head, knowing what he was talking about. She led the way to Sinon's room, which was the next closest room to Kirito's. She knocked a few times, and Kirito continued to try and see if there might be times where Ana was peeking. He just couldn't imagine the possibility of someone being able to hold their eyes closed. Maybe she had unlocked some kind of skill to activate, making them stay closed until she would disable it?

His speculations were pointless, because no matter how much he looked, her eyes were closed to the point she looked as if she were operating in her sleep if she were a normal person. Sinon answered her door, thankfully fully prepared to go with them.

"Good morning, Kirito, Ana-san."

Ana nodded her head, and she continued to lead the way. The next closest room, a diagonal across the hall past where Ana had stayed, was Asuna's room. After Ana knocked at the door, Sinon went up and called out to Asuna.

"Make sure you're all ready, because Kirito is with us."

A sound of distress as Asuna fell to the floor on the other side, possibly having fallen off her bed, echoed to the hall. There was supposed to be a setting that the sounds and access to a room was of perfect security, but it seemed at least Asuna left the sounds travelling out as a setting. Kirito had left the same setting on, as Ana recalled the sounds on the other side of the door before Kirito opened his. Asuna opened the door nearly a minute after they arrived at the door.

"Why are we up so early?"

Kirito looked at Ana, assuming it was just because of her skills and habits as a professional MMO player...but the look to check on her position showed something else. It was a warm smile.

"Breakfast."

The only word to have been heard from Ana that morning startled them. They were woken up early...for breakfast.

A window appeared in front of Kirito's vision, Ana seemed to have sent a text chat, and he noticed her fingers moving rapidly beside her. She truly was frightening, typing at a virtual keyboard flawlessly without so much as taking a look.

"How long did you set your sleeping for? I assume you ended up going to sleep before me. Six hours is plenty of sleep in our situation. Unless you're trying to stay with a healthy normal you practice outside of the game, it's time that you can spend keeping your hunger filled, and maintaining a healthy relationship as a party."

The test message sent from Ana, had arrived to...well, the whole party along with a party invite. Kirito was startled to noticed that everyone else had received the message. Shortly after, Leafa emerged into the hall, across from Asuna's room.

She looked around the hall and saw everyone else standing together and her eyes focused on Ana. She walked over, and as she neared Ana, she noticed from the angle she was facing her, she could see the marks all over her visible skin that she had long healed scars everywhere. Fingers, over the visible parts of her legs, she even noticed when she looked at Ana's face, the scar on her forehead through her hair. Suddenly she lost the confidence to defend her lengthy sleeping. Normally, she would wake up early to practice kendo, but she had gone to sleep late the night before. At least later than she was used to going to sleep.

Ana's reasoning for being awake early was to encourage their relationship as a party. So far, Leafa knew that they hadn't exactly been flexible toward Ana. Leafa wouldn't admit that they were still children in comparison, but they really were. There was at least ten years between them.

"Well? Are you not getting hungry? It's better to not hit the point where the hunger starts to eat away at your hit points, so let's head downstairs and eat the breakfast I made for everyone."

She turned and walked down the stairs. She really did continue without opening her eyes at all. They didn't know that she was also getting instructions and menus in her vision even when her eyes were closed, so she still had to operate those menus.

When they arrived at a table for four, Ana moved another of the inn's restaurant tables over and rearranged the seats so all of them could sit together. She set the table with everyone's breakfast, and motioned for everyone to sit down. She was acting a little bit like she normally did with Ryra. She liked to experience the reactions and the pleasure, the savouring of the food she made. When she made food for herself and ate it, it wasn't nearly as enjoyable. When she was honest with herself, she disliked eating. She rare became hungry. She had a problem with her weight in the past. She used to be sick all the time. She went on a fasting diet for a month, which she had been informed would allow her the chance to heal from her old scars, but only small, insignificant and unnoticeable scars faded from her body. Such as one on her knee from when she was very young, and still not used to navigating around using her ears and other senses. She disliked her scars. They were something that Ryra treasured of her, but they were painful memories she would never forget to her, a painful past she experienced day after day when she was reminded of them. She was starting to regret not taking the chance in the virtual environment to experience life without the scars reminding her every day about the difficulties it took for her to become as skilled with her other perception with her vision gone.

She listened and felt the energy of everyone as they ate. Ana hadn't been confident in it being nearly as enjoyable after putting it in her inventory, but it changed her sour mood fuelled by her depressing memories to one of happiness. It were almost as if she were pushed into the future a few years, and she were looking over children Ryra and her would have raised together, instead of strangers. Each of them had some sense of similarity to her. In one way or another, they had their own issues they faced.

Ana could tell that Kirito was fighting with himself, figuring out who he really was. He identified as male, but there was a lot of influence and pressure in his current life which pushed him to present himself as female, and the game didn't make things any easier on him. He was dealing with a similar tragedy to Sinon though, perhaps heavier.

Sinon was dealing with a heavy and tragic past, trying to grow past it, and she was becoming more an introvert over her feelings, to accept the situation which had developed around her. She was trying to become stronger, and putting a goal in front of her, which just so happened to be Ana for the time being. Strong enough that she could live with the tragedy she experienced in the past.

Leafa was working with her own feelings, trying to find out how she would deal with them. Would she chase after where her feelings went, or was it more responsible and better toward where the feelings went to let them go where they would, and change herself as time went on.

Asuna...she hadn't let much of her emotions show through as of yet. Ana could tell that there was a lot of tension and pressure in her life, and that she was trying to become her own person, but she couldn't pursue her own path because of the tension and pressure.

With a sigh, Ana finally sat down with them, half of their meals eaten. She slowly ate her food, and listened in as the teenagers lost some of the tension between them. Ana wanted to learn more about them, in a way that it wouldn't strain their connection as a team working together. She wanted them to learn about her tendencies and let her try and stay how she was as much as possible, but if she had to, she would leave them in order to keep as much of her senses together as possible. So that she wouldn't return to real life in the end, needing to put her life back together from a perspective where she wasn't relying on her senses which only existed within the game.

"So, what's the plan for today, Ana-san?"

The question, asked by Leafa, was asked in a slightly sheepish way. She was trying not to come off as overbearing. Perhaps it was from a conversation they had after Ana had left them the night before.

Again, she used the text option to speak with them. She only sent out the message to Leafa.

"Grind and search. We'll go from zone to zone, and spend between an hour to two hours there depending on items and materials dropped, and we'll search for the dungeon, so that we can get ready for it. If there is another, better supplied town, then we'll end our grinding today there. My goal is to start getting my crafting levels up, so that everyone has essentially free gear, stronger than what would be available from dungeons. Crafting is extremely valuable in this game after all, considering the game that the mechanics and information mostly came from. Also, you know how this game stresses the no magic trait? There is one form of magic which is all the more powerful than having a magic type of combat. Enchanting, which is tied into crafting."

As Leafa read out the response from Ana to everyone, they were all slowly turning their eyes to Ana, more and more convinced that Ana was no regular person. She intended to fully utilize the overpowered traits of crafting. A full team of ridiculously well geared and trained on their teamwork and abilities, was essentially what she was going to build them into. She was the epitome of what a high end crafter would reach for, they realized. With a gulp, Kirito stood up, and showed his determination to show her how serious he was in growing better with everyone, to be able to work together, gaining their way out of the game.

Ana felt a slight sense of relief. It was a lot better than her first assumption how things would turn out between her and them.


	7. Chapter 7

~Outside~

Ryra strained her mind to the limit to try and understand. Why would Ana still end up putting on the NerveGear? Why would she hide one of them when Ryra handed the box over to the police? She simply couldn't understand. She knew what kind of person Ana was, and impulsiveness was one of her weakest traits. Ana was too much of a calm analyst to let her emotions get to her, but apparently she was so emotionally impacted by the nightmares and imaginations of the game going wrong, that she went in. They both knew that something bad could happen on the main release, and now as Ryra looked over her and fixed a new package of liquid food onto her IV.

Ryra had caught a lot of attention when she had hurried Ana into the hospital the afternoon before, but now everyone was leaving her to her own schedule. It was a national crisis. All over Japan, the news spread that nearly ten thousand people were trapped in what was now considered a death game, Sword Art Online. The first VRMMO.

There was a lot of bad press for it, and for good reason. But the press weren't focusing on who or what they should have been focusing on. They should have turned their cameras and observations on finding and convicting Kayaba Akihiko. The police were working toward that, but the media was exploding about how the MMO genre should never have been considered for the VR devices. The VR devices so far had only been a small release before SAO, with minor puzzle games and health counselling programs. It was mostly a medical invention, and it was controlled.

The headlines screamed titles from **Death Game** , to **Over 200 Claimed by Death Game** , to **Video Games** **do** **Kill People**. There were still some old generation people who clung to the words of those hopeless ideas that video games were some kind of plague that needed to be purged.

The problem wasn't the game itself. The problem was the man who viciously programmed the game into an all stakes survival game. The problem wasn't the people who played the game, but the mentality that dying in a game was fine. Other gamers from outside who didn't have the chance to get into SAO, realized that regardless of what might happen to the future of MMO gaming, it wasn't as minimal a risk to die in a VR game any more. People should be much more careful. After all, the impact would realistically be more traumatizing than seeing an avatar dying on your screen.

Ryra puzzled over it, and a knock at the hospital room door came. She had been in touch with many other doctors over the panic, and many teenagers were put under her care. Instead of putting some of the more wealthy young patients into high end hospitals, having a properly equipped professional, someone who was experiencing the trauma more close to home was going to put more into keeping the imprisoned safe. The whole top four floors of overflow in the hospital were patients from SAO. Under her care, she had patients from the far reaches of Tokyo, to the closest locations within. One of the most actively changing medical situations from the patients under her supervision, was a patient named Kazuto Kirigaya. A quick basic search would show that his parents had passed away in a traffic collision a few years prior, and that he had been relocated to live with a family of close relatives. One of those relatives, was also a patient under her care. Another of her patients, was a close childhood friend of his who had moved with him.

"You're free to enter."

Ryra acted as professional as possible when she conversed with the families of the people who were put under her care. She only had another four beds out of over two hundred on those top four floors of the hospital, and she assumed they could be filled within seconds. As it turned out, a new parent had been the one to enter. A business suit clad woman with a stern and angry expression on her face. She wore high end clothing, and gave an air of pompous arrogance. Ryra really didn't want to handle that kind of person when she finally had a little break to watch over Ana.

"My daughter Asuna Yuuki has been admitted to your care. I assume you're doing more than sitting around with this patient to get her out of this stupid-"

"Yuuki-san, we have hundreds of medical professionals working on this case. I am supposed to be on my break right now. I will be checking on all one hundred ninety six...I suppose it would be one hundred ninety seven including your child, patients under my supervision shortly. Bloating your personal experience of this situation is only going to slow us down and make it take longer to research and find what we need to safely pull everyone out of the virtual environment. Please show some patience."

The mother who stared at her with a hateful glare seemed fit to burst with her rage at Ryra. She angrily performed her next motions of removing her cellphone from her purse, and mashed at the screen until she was making a call.

"Yes? Director? Why is the doctor in charge of this-"

She paused for a second, and while Ryra was wishing she had Ana's hearing, she could hear the other end of the call remarkably fine.

"Who am I speaking to?"

Yuuki-san only seemed to grow more angry as she had been cut off.

"I am the mother of Asuna Yuuki, a patient who was just transferred in from a highly regarded hospital."

"Ah, another one of the family members of the current issue. Please have patience with our staff. They have been working near non-stop to try and get everyone safely out of their trapped state. You mention the doctor in charge, Ryra-sensei? Her fiancee is also trapped, a person who went in knowing the dangers, to try and stop this disaster from happening. I ask that you show some respect to that family, as it might be impossible to get anyone out of there from this side of the issue. Depending on the situation, we might be waiting some time before we can get any information about what is happening on the other side of this."

She had managed to calm down a little, hearing some explanation to the current understanding.

"You don't know what's happening where everyone's mind is?"

"That would be a question for Ryra-sensei. She has been attempting to establish communication with her fiancee through technical means, and if she can make a connection, then it could be possible for at least the families of the people trapped to be able to communicate. If you wait a little, there might be a chance to talk to your daughter, Yuuki-san."

With a frustrated sigh, Yuuki-san closed the call, and shoved the phone away in her purse before turning to Ryra. She still hadn't lost a hint of her arrogance, but she did manage to calm down enough to attempt a conversation.

"Ryra-sensei. How much progress has your work made in connecting with the people inside?"

A round of sighs seemed to be permeating the room. The atmosphere was heavy.

"Sadly, Ana is more the programmer between us, so it's been ten hours of deciphering her programming code to establish a connection with a single device. She had been the leading mind behind many attempts at making a virtual reality device, but she stopped. If she were on this side and it were me in there, then there would likely already be a connection with how fast she works."

She was lost in the technical talk, so Yuuki-san turned her head to look out of the window behind Ana.

"Is your fiancee the woman on the bed? Why come to Japan if you have such a relationship?"

Ryra looked to Ana with a warm expression, hoping that it might be the first thing she could greet Ana with, but of course she didn't wake up.

"We came to Japan so I could try and find a way to give her back her vision. She is blind, and has been for twenty years. She's never even seen what I look like outside of the virtual environment she's in right now. I came here to learn as much as possible and try to fix the nerve damage which makes her blind. Japan might not accept our relationship, but we do also love Japan. I could have easily gone anywhere in the world to learn, but Japan is the place we loved more than our homes in Canada."

Her eyes drifted to Ryra's face, and she sighed again.

"That girl of mine...call me if Asuna shows any changes. Or when you get a connection with their end, whichever comes first."

Another moment where Ryra wished she had one of Ana's strengths. She wanted to know how Yuuki-san was really feeling emotionally about this event with her daughter. She had a very professional kind of attitude toward her daughter as far as Ryra could tell, but there might be more to it. She just somehow felt that the relationship between her and Asuna wasn't good, from the way she carried herself to the attitude she automatically showed toward Ryra's relationship. She adapted and shifted the way she spoke to her with the recommendation from the director of the hospital to consider her, but that was a very minimal change.

"Take care of yourself, Yuuki-san."

Ryra sighed when she left the room. Ryra glanced at her watch, hoping the few minutes she had with Ana weren't used up from that conversation. With a depressed groan, she stood up, and brushed her fingers along Ana's cheek, cupping her face in a way she usually did before kissing her, but she sighed and turned to leave the room.

{"Ryra-sensei, patient Kazuto Kirigaya is displaying concerning health information again, please check in right away."}

Ryra double tapped the connection button on her pager before she left the room. The two taps were a signal for understood, or on the way. It depended on the situation the pager was used to contact her. The nurses and other attendant workers of the hospital had been extremely busy helping her handle the patients of the incident.

It took her thirty two seconds to travel the halls and up the stairs before reaching the door at the end of the third floor under her care, and find the room where Kirito and the other two patients related to him were located. Usually, male and female patients were separated, but considering his situation being considered a female student at an all female private high school, there was question in her mind that Kazuto might be a person like Ana. There would be no issue placing him with them either way, with their housing situation already placing them together before the incident.

The other two patients in the room had a slight increase to their pulse, but there was a good understanding it was likely that the three might be fighting monsters within the game. Ryra understood that better than most of the hospital staff. What was concerning, was how erratic Kazuto's pulse and blood pressure became during the same instances. He was in combat very often, and it was concerning. Thankfully through the night, it had slowed down. Either he kept his real life habits for sleeping consistent with the game, or it was possible he was in contact with one of Ryra's previous patients who knew about the issues with sleeping and the game. An after thought teased at the idea that perhaps he met with Ana, and she was taking care of the three of them, but that was quite a stretch with the amount of people in the game. Ryra also considered how much an introvert Ana was, and deemed it must have been impossible. No, there were too many other decent and more acceptable answers than to assume Ana was with the trio of teenagers.

What made Ryra a little more confused, was that despite the game being heavily combat oriented and that they were climbing in difficulty all the time, even when Ana's awareness and breathing increased a little, only once had her heart rate spiked. Ryra wondered just how calm Ana could be while facing monsters her own size, likely larger in life size, and her mind reminded the usual calm expression Ana had during the most difficult raid battles the two had taken part in, or the experience they had in Shibuya. Ana was definitely fine with her health. Ryra wanted to get in touch with Ana more to assure her the health of their pregnancy in her would be fine so long as she doesn't push her heart rate too much, than over anything else, but finding out the situation in the game was also important. Ryra just knew that Ana would be the type to hold back on her actions a lot in consideration for their pregnancy, but she didn't need to. She just needed to avoid a situation beyond her means really. The ability to control her state of calm was...well, it was possible it was the greatest treasure of someone being inside of the game. No doubt, there would be a lot of people who would let their sanity collapse from the stress and anxiety, but Ana was the most adaptive person she knew. After all, she was the only blind person she knew who could reliably use their hearing quality to replace the need for her eyes completely. She didn't even use a prescribed guidance cane. That kind of ability made many people doubt her blindness, but not even the best contact lenses could replicate how blind her eyes were from the nerve damage in appearance.

The most convincing thing Ana could do to prove to people she was blind, was keep her eyes open.

Ryra's mind returned to the room with Kazuto, Suguha and Shino, and she double checked the heart rate on Kazuto which was still spiking. His heart rate was spiking as if he were treating every fight like the highest end raid. Ryra could relate to the heart rate when she was doing a high level raid alongside Ana the first few times they took them on together, but after those first times, her heart rate never would climb from any fight through a screen. Having Ana with her was a guaranteed win, it was proven.

Kazuto's heart rate finally started lowering, and then shot back up. He seriously needed to calm down...

"Ryra-sensei, a family member is here to visit. Is it okay?"

Ryra nodded her head and continued to record the notes into the tablet which was keeping record of everything for the case. When Kazuto's condition didn't change, she sighed and switched back to the programming tab, tapping away as fast as she could to try and put together what Ana had taught her about VR code, the messaging system. As long as she could finish the messaging system program and program it into the tablet, then she could connect to every NerveGear, and give visitors a chance to message their loved ones who were trapped.

"How are they, sensei?"

The familiar complete reflection of Yuuki-san's voice, Kirigaya-san was a comfort. There were few parents who visited with such concern for those who were trapped inside of the game. She was even equally concerned for Shino Asada's sake. As if they were all her own children.

"They are healthy. Kazuto seems to be unable to calm himself down, but Suguha and Shino are doing well. I assume from their vital signs that within the game, they are probably doing some kind of light battling to make progression toward getting out from their end. Kazuto's vital signs treat everything like he were on a strong dose of adrenaline though. I assume the only instances they wouldn't be so intense, would be during sleep or some kind of crafting. I really need to get this programming done and tell him to calm down..."

Kirigaya-san sighed in relief.

"I'm glad..."

Ryra was a little confused at her relief, but she left it since it sounded that she would continue and explain what she meant.

"You see, the situation in our home. Kazuto-chan and Shino-chan moved in with us because of tragic incidents. Kazuto-chan hasn't expressed interest in hardly anything since. It's been a few years since then. Shino-chan hasn't really opened up to anyone other than Kazuto. I suppose it changed a little when the two of them quit their martial arts training and started their video gaming, which I didn't support at first, but it was nice seeing a little of their personalities return."

Ryra nodded her head as she understood. It truly was a good sign for Kazuto to be taking the situation seriously. He just needed to start being a little more careful, otherwise his heart in reality could be in trouble. Ryra dreaded the idea of him attempting a boss with how his heart rate acted in normal fights.

"I do have a question, if you don't mind. Would you know if Kazuto-chan is female minded?"

Kirigaya-san laughed softly. She stared at him a little before she started calling back a memory with every word.

"I really don't know. Kazuto-chan would be the one to ask that question. According to his mother, he was just like a daughter when he was little, and he took in all of her habits with cooking, housekeeping in every regard and motherly traits as if he were going to be a mother in the future. It was a little surprising the first time he visited our home in girl clothes, but those had been a gift from Shino-chan's little brother. When he arrived in that pretty dress, it had bothered him, and it bothered Suguha-chan even more. I sometimes wonder which side is more him. The side of him which took care of the chores and meals ever since he moved into our home, or the side of him which denied female clothing."

Ryra smiled. She had known Ana before she had become Ana, but she didn't know Ana much before high school. She knew that Ana was the same person from before high school, but she couldn't think of any differences. Ana was still the introvert she had always been, with female tendencies, and often denied being feminine before her primary surgery because of pressure and bullying. She was definitely one of the most feminine girls in the school in the end however. Everyone in the school knew about her pregnancy. Everyone had their opinions on her pregnancy, and most avoided her the extended period of time she had been grieving about her baby being taken from her. She had wanted desperately to be a mother. From the comparisons Ryra could make between Ana and Kazuto, perhaps Kazuto at some point might follow the same path, but hopefully not so tragically similar.

With a sigh toward the thought, Kirigaya-san looked at Ryra again, curious on her reason for sighing in the tone she had.

"My fiancee transitioned back in high school. Hearing about Kazuto reminds me a lot how Ana had been in the past, but two very similar pasts aren't likely to turn out the same. It all depends on Kazuto, as you said. For Ana, her desire to be a mother was what made the choice to transition. For Kazuto, transition could go either way. Either accepting his femininity, or denying it could transition him whichever way. Currently, he would be the most androgynous case I've heard of."

Ryra and Kirigaya-san both sighed at the memories they were replaying in their head. Kazuto's heart rate dropped back to a normal pace, and finally stayed down for a decent amount of time. The nurse who had informed Ryra of Kazuto's condition walked back up to the machine and checked everything over again, recording everything on a tablet she held onto.

Ryra checked over the physical condition of all three of them, and she nodded her head.

"They're doing fine still, so you have nothing to worry about currently. I will be sure to keep you updated if anything changes. You can continue visiting as long as you like, but be sure to take care of yourself as well. Take care, Kirigaya-san."

Ryra left the room, but took a quick look back, to see how Kirigaya-san would spend the next moment with Ryra gone. She immediately went to Suguha first, kissed her on the forehead, whispered something in her ear, moved to Kazuto with only a kiss on the forehead, and she rested her hand gently on Shino's forehead. She was definitely fond of all three of them, and it showed how good a mother she was, even when only one of them was truly her child.

Ryra left and headed straight to the newest patient, Asuna Yuuki's room and she prepared herself for whatever appearance the child of that woman would have. She only hoped she wouldn't be a constant visual reminder of her mother. Through the door, she was reminded that she had been transferred from one of the higher end hospitals because of the care program. She had the whole room to herself. She had noticed all of that before focusing in on the girl.

Ryra walked further in, shaking off the first impression, and checking the monitors for Asuna's life signs before she took a look at her physically. Asuna was currently experiencing slightly raised heart rate, but it wasn't the same kind of heart rate which occurred with the battling seen from Kazuto, Suguha and Shino. Her heart rate indicated a more either nervous or romantic kind of heart rate. There were distinct differences in the heart rate which could be picked out, and it was a proud talent of Ryra's to be able to tell the difference when she could take a good look at a person's heart rate.

Asuna's heart rate changed in an instant, shifting to a battle kind of heart rate. It wasn't safe at all for the heart rate to be skipping around so much, but it was a healthy part of that age, as a fifteen years of age girl. At least the battle side of her heart rate seemed to contradict her mother's personality, which was an immediate plus to Ryra's opinion of her.

Further look into her data showed that Asuna was normally very healthy, but her life was very sheltered and controlled. Going into battle gave the sense that she was breaking out of the sheltered life style.

Finally, Ryra took a look at Asuna herself instead of her data, and at first glance, she thought she were seeing and younger Ana. It was only at first glance though. There were a lot of differences after taking the first glance. Asuna looked nothing like her mother. The only similarity was that they were both definitely Japanese in heritage. Otherwise, Asuna had natural, very long light brown hair which had a light tinge of ginger in the sun light coming in through the window. She had a more calm expression than her mother ever seemed she would from the experience Ryra had. Asuna was also a little taller than Ana already, and she was slightly more developed. Somehow, she did and didn't feel Japanese from some of her features. Everything about her however, was as soft as Ana. It was probably the soft atmosphere which caught Ryra at first, which made her think they looked so similar. Perhaps if Ana had received Japanese DNA for her pregnancy, her child would look like Asuna. It was a thought that Ryra quickly dismissed from her mind though, becoming jealous and possessive as usual toward Ana.

Asuna though...she seemed exhausted even while fast asleep and plugged into SAO. It was a reflection, her expression, to her emotions before diving into the virtual environment. Ryra knew the feeling of exhaustion. Either it was a good exhaustion that you would later celebrate going through because of the benefits, or it was a bad exhaustion that only drains. Asuna's expression was of the draining kind of exhaustion. The energy from everything felt to her, to have gone nowhere. Going into the game, was a way for her to try and cope with her exhaustion, with something new and unknown. To escape.

With how her mother appeared, Ryra's first guess was that with a high class family situation, it was likely Asuna was being pressured a lot through her education and otherwise activities, to be the perfect model of what her parents intended her to be. That her father hadn't shown up...was that a sign of the parenting, or was it something else? A quick search for family records on her with the tablet showed...that her father was connected to the VR corporation Kayaba Akihiko had launched. Really, her father owned the company, but he had no ties to the content. He simply paid for it into creation for a share of the profit, not further involvement. Already, it seemed he was dropping the project from his list of connections.

As if on cue, a light footstep with a heavy tone approached the door which was still open since Ryra hadn't closed the door.

"She is receiving proper care then..."

The voice Ryra heard was concerned, but not to the level which would be hoped for from a parent. His voice was the same as with the interviews. Ryra turned to him and recognized him right away. He walked a few more authoritative steps into the room, and he looked down toward Asuna with a concerned expression.

"That girl really does try anything that can distract her from her lessons...I suppose I need to find a suitable husband who can look after her."

Ryra was taken aback from the sudden ridiculous statement. Asuna was only fifteen! She was still a child! She needed the proper care and support of her parents, or other caring connections in her life, not someone who would treat her like a possession. Ryra was about ready to force him out of the room and put his name on the banned list for visitation. She took a deep, silent breath before going over Asuna's vital signs again, and facing him on her way out.

"A fifteen year old girl doesn't need a husband. She needs positive friends to walk her same path, or the opportunity to learn what she will pursue in life with interest. I don't care if it's out of line; in this day and age, no parent should be allowed to dictate every bit of their child's life. If you mention such a thing about her again while she is under my care, you will be banned from entering this hospital, and I will file for her to be cared for under protective services. My fiancee and I would be perfectly fine taking care of her if you can't properly do the job."

He glared at her as if he had the power or say to do anything, but she knew that she was safe. Her word within the hospital about the SAO patients, was law. The director would listen to her, and the government would listen in turn to those words passed along. Her work was for the good of all the patients after all.

"Get out of my hospital."

Ryra glared back at him, showing her confidence in her authority. He blinked in surprise a little, but he looked at Asuna once again, shaking his head and turning to leave the room.

"Maybe that really is what she needs. But can your work support her life style?"

Ryra had confidence in that as well.

"You must not know how well doctors are paid. Take care, Yuuki-san."

She walked out of the room, her destination her office. She looked through the update logs on all of the patients who were registered, and for another twenty minutes when she sat down in her office. The information from the tablet was shared to her office computer, and she continued there, switching the pages of the patient data, while trying to multi-task as skilfully as Ana would, doing her best to finish the programming for a communication software to connect to the NerveGears.

For another four hours straight of back and forth, checking on problem patients who were experiencing issues, to the unfortunate passing of one who took too much a risk or the stress was too much...whatever the reason, there were people still dying to the game, even after knowing the consequences of pushing too far within the game. Eventually, there was a long silence from the patient information leaking to her, so she put up Ana's active data. What she saw was about normal. Except, there were tiny, barely conceivable spikes in her heart rate. Was such a small amount of activity important? She didn't know. She waited to see if there was any more change in her heart rate, but it didn't come. Ryra could almost assume she were sleeping or simply sitting at her computer desk at home with such a normal heart rate, not inside of a game where everything is at stake for a single mistake.

While Ryra had been distracted by her observations of Ana, she had forgotten that she was nearly finished with the programming for the communication software. With the pager alerting her to Kazuto Kirigaya having another heavy jump in heart rate, Ryra noticed another change in Ana's heart rate...and she noticed that she only had one line of code left.

She answered the pager with two presses of the button, transferred the data back to the tablet, and she hammered in the last line of code to the program, and implemented it into a ready file, which she sent activity to Ana's NerveGear along the way to Kazuto's room with the other two. Ryra wasn't surprised to hear the machine from that room blaring when she approached.

No pick up from Ana's end of the communication yet, twenty seconds after sending the communication to voice call her. Ryra told the nurse to switch the IV bags and put a numbing agent through them to calm down their heart rate enough to save their bodies. Their virtual selves shouldn't be effected, but they would be safer in real life. Ryra had to be very careful with how she handled everything, and everything was taking her entirety of life experience since the incident.

Finally, the other end of the communication from the tablet made it through when the heart rates stabilized. The response was a text message, instead of voice. Ryra assumed immediately it was the same reason Ana had logged right out of the beta before, to preserve her ability to live outside of the game. Ana really was stubborn and persistent.

"Who is this? I didn't put out my contact information..."

Ryra hugged the tablet before holding it so that it was a decent distance from her face, and she added video sharing to the communication, and aimed the camera of the tablet toward herself, before answering Ana's question.

"Bet you're not even using your eyes so you'd recognize you're fiancee, huh Ana?"

Ryra spoke in English to Ana. She could see a small projection of Ana and a few people behind her who were talking about something. From a quick look over them...Ryra was confused by the colourful hair choices, but she shook her head. Ana opened her eyes, which would only allow her to see from within the game, like she was. She was able to see the real Ryra through the communication program.

"I would never question your voice, but the programming you used is definitely confusing. You didn't give it a name, so I didn't know who it was from the identification of who was contacting me."

Ana persisted with not talking, but she did keep her eyes open, her expression toward Ryra relieved. At that moment, the group of four other people she was with turned toward Ana and started walking toward her. At first Ryra didn't pay attention, continuing the conversation.

"I only just finished doing my best to copy your programming! I don't know where you have your advanced programming, so I wasn't able to open this up right away. I'm surprised I was able to get it working at all. Anyhow, what was with your heart rate irregularities over the last minute?"

Ana was nodding her head with pride, her eyes closed again, not bothering to open them again, Ryra assumed she had enough fuel from seeing Ryra for a decent amount of time. Ryra was still depressed by the quick return to acting blind when Ana could finally see.

"We were just fighting an area boss. I've been trying to teach them cooperative strategies, and the only one who has the determination to charge in and tank aside myself is Kirito, who is just reckless. Asuna has been getting better, but she's still a little nervous to join in when a battle has already started. Leafa is a little behind Kirito on the reckless charging, but she's also doing well. Sinon has been proving to be a decent support. It's a weak balance so far, but they just need to be properly equipped."

As Ryra heard their usernames in the game, she looked at the people standing beside and around Ana, and she recognized every single face around Ana as patients she was taking care of in the hospital.

"Do you have this running so they can hear me as well?"

Ana was a little confused by that question, but she nodded her head.

"I'm the head doctor overseeing the teen to young adult section of patients for this incident. Kirigaya Kazuto and Kirigaya Suguha, your aunt and mother is doing well, and she was visiting earlier. Suguha, please continue with your current pace during battle, you have been keeping a good and healthy pace. Your health is doing well, but Kazuto-kun, you're going to really need to learn to calm down. Your heart rate nearly caused cardiac arrest on this side during the battle you were just fighting. Asada Shino, we've had word from your family, and they're unable to make it to the hospital, but they express they feel assured with you being together with Kazuto and Suguha. Asuna Yuuki, both of your parents were in today, and due to their attitude and behaviour I might be banning them from visits, and have told your father I and Ana might adopt you if their treatment and attitude toward you doesn't improve before either our side or your side frees you from the game. Ana, please take good care of my patients, and I'll do everything I can on my end. I'm so glad, knowing that all my favourite patients are together. Take care of each other."

Ryra finished, and everyone aside Ana was staring blankly at the small projection which was connecting outside of the game. The unmistakable Kazuto was embarrassed having his heart rate being disclosed to him with everyone else hearing about it, and he was breathing heavily, trying to work through his reaction. Suguha, who had very mismatched bright yellow blond hair was in tears with an expression of happiness. This reaction was shared by Shino. Asuna was...shocked.

"Asuna-chan, I will contact you with another communication later, so please tell me a time when you should be perhaps in an inn room or whatever the situation is between everyone as a party there. I have something more to talk to you about regarding your parents, and I assume it would not be good to share more with everyone else. Ana will know regardless, so if you're comfortable with her around through it, it might make it easier to have her there with you if you choose."

Ryra took a deep breath and smiled again.

"Whenever Shino-chan's family can get here to communicate, we will put them through for a communication with you. Tomorrow, or when Kirigaya-san can make it as soon as possible, she said she would be over. It might be sometime tonight since I promised to tell her when this communication was working, and she said she would come over right away."

Ryra wondered how talkative Ana had been with them compared to herself. It might be a little bewildering how different their personalities were.

"Ah, and Ana, you have nothing to worry about regarding our pregnancy. You can afford going a little stronger if you've been holding back. Sometimes I wondered before, but even in a virtual situation and not having hardly any heart rate changes, is completely ridiculous. You definitely have the strongest heart there for the time being at least. Maybe teach Kazuto a thing or two about controlling the heart."

Ryra thought everything over, and she nodded when she was able to mentally cross off her checklist for each patient on the other end of the call. She was ready to listen for a little while.

"Ryra-sensei?"

That inquisitive tone was surprisingly from Kazuto. Not only his appearance within the game, but his voice was more feminine than Ryra had been imagining for someone who was apparently decidedly male.

"Yes, Kazuto-kun?"

Kazuto seemed to need to work up his courage for it, but he got the words out.

"Can you call me for a health call later too? Ana-san told us before this boss fight that we would be heading back right after. It should be about an hour to get back to the inn-"

Ana interrupted by holding up an interesting crystal like item which glowed blue.

"You'll use that super expensive teleport crystal?!"

Ana nodded her head. A text seemed to tell Ryra and the rest the response to that surprise.

"Health is more important."

Ryra laughed softly, while the others simply smiled. Asuna wore a troubled expression, but she shared a little in the happy mood held by the others.

"Ten minutes for Kirito to be ready, Ryra, then Asuna and I will be ready in my room whenever you finish with Kirito."

Ryra nodded her head.

"Then, I'll make the call to your NerveGear in ten minutes...Kirito."

A little of the discomfort that seemed to hang around the group on the other side was dispelled when Ryra used the user name instead of the real name of the person.

Ryra gave a few seconds to close the call, and she sighed in relief. The nurse who had been in the room through the entirety was staring at Ryra as if something unbelievable had just happened in front of her.

"Help me get the news out! We'll send out calls to the families of our patients, but not Asuna Yuuki's family. Let's get very busy! Time to give our patients every reason to be more careful and mindful of their actions!"

The nurse was a little confused, but she smiled, nodded, and left the room in a hurry. Ryra recognized that she was one of the few who wasn't caught up on the communication plan, so she didn't know why she was being urged so much to get the news out. Ryra sighed in relief and happily made her way back to her office. She sent out a lot of messages to the families which were put up on a contacted or not list, and after ten minutes after the call before ended, Ryra connected the program to her computer. She linked the program to send to every tablet in their entire case, before opening up a log between Ryra's NerveGear account which was completely inactive since she hadn't delivered it to the police, and Kirito's. Kirito answered right away, the video displaying on the other end, Kirito in the basic pyjamas the game had given him.


	8. Chapter 8

~Confidentiality~

Kirito was excessively nervous to talk about it, but Ryra-sensei was a doctor, a famous doctor, and the fiancee of the person who was already helping everyone in the game close to them, and so felt comfortable in trusting her. That was why preparation was made to appear first thing in their communication, in the most obvious clothing to show the current physical situation in the game.

"I can guess one reason as to this call, but the answer to your physical situation within the game would be a programming issue out of my control. Otherwise, I would assume Ana told you already that there are two ways the NerveGear would react to missing information. Measure the places missed in initial scan of the body and the mental scan. So, there shouldn't be a reason a male minded person should have a completely female body as projected by the system. Not unless you have enough a stronger female mind about yourself."

Kirito's face was red; the expression was growing more unsure about having made the request to talk.

"Ryra-sensei...can we have privacy on this? Just us know about this for now?"

Ryra nodded her head right away. Of course her side of the conversation was also completely available. Of course she would honour the patient confidentiality agreement, even with the current situation. She had to assume at the very least that for the time being, she was being a mental health counsellor, or just someone to sound Kirito's thoughts and concerns about the situation off her.

"Of course. Anything said between us during these calls will be between us alone."

Kirito took a deep breath, and with a little curiosity, Ryra had the other computer screen show Kirito's health information. As expected, the heart rate was up. It wasn't as unhealthy as during a battle, but it was enough that she needed to remind for calm to be kept.

"Kirito, remember what I said before. You need to work on calming yourself. Your heart rate is within reason right now, but you're really going to have to work on it."

Kirito nodded, and sighed, having been holding in a breath for a little too long.

"Ryra-sensei, am I really a boy, or am I really a girl?"

Kirito was unsure? That only made Ryra unsure of how to answer for a moment. She considered how to answer, and she was quickly able to come up with a good wording for the response.

"I can't tell you if you're a boy or a girl. Nobody can. I _could_ tell you what you already know. You were born with a male body, and developed into feminine traits. Only you can determine where you sit on the scale. You don't even need to choose one or the other. You could choose neither, or even both. Unfortunately, the only options as far as having the body changed, are male or female. Otherwise, it's about your mind set. You're only fourteen years into life. Ana made this choice at your age, but if you aren't ready to make the choice, then don't. Don't even make it a choice. Go with what feels the most right to you, and it will be right. You are yourself, defined by how you make yourself. Ana's philosophical wording from her writing really rubbed off on me...what I mean essentially, is that if you're ready, go with what feels right. Don't look back unless it feels too wrong. For now, you're in a risk free environment as far as following one or the other. You can embrace the situation the virtual system gave you, or you could equip male gear and have your virtual hair cut. Your hair won't be touched on this side, so do whatever you feel while you're there."

Kirito was staring at her as if she were some kind of all-knowing saint. Ryra only basically rehearsed her feelings on how anyone should face the question if they should transition, and added in Ana's heavy philosophy which always made the mind crank into high gear and really try to churn out an answer.

Kirito nodded again, and looked directly into the projection, finding Ryra's eyes through the space between somehow.

"Ryra-sensei, I'm accepting being a girl for now. I want to talk again later, to confirm this or not. Is...is this really okay, Ryra-sensei? Will aunty be okay? Will I be okay?"

Ryra smiled before responding to Kirito's question.

"Ana would definitely be more knowledgeable on the topic than me. Just because I'm a doctor, doesn't mean I know everything regarding health. I can say regarding your aunty, she will be completely supportive so long as you're happy with this decision, as long as you stick with what makes you happiest. She may not be your mother, but she is a motherly woman who is ready to care for you as if her own like Leafa-chan. And neither me nor Ana can answer how Leafa, Sinon or Asuna will react if they already consider you a boy. If you are already good friends, and Ana's doing a good job with her team leading like usual, there won't be any time for worrying about your situation. For yourself, you will be okay. Ana's there for you, and if she can't be all the time, register my NerveGear account I'm currently contacting you through as a friend, and send me a message when you feel the need to talk. I'm working nearly every minute of the day now, so I'm always available. This is completely okay. I already said it, that this is the best opportunity to figure this out for yourself. To figure out who you are. So take it and take risks. Just don't go so far as stupid. I hope that doesn't need being reminded."

Ryra smiled as she finished, putting a bit of emphasis on the stressing of Kirito being better not being stupid about the chance. For now, it was okay to refer to Kirito by female pronouns, so next time, using the more feminine honorific would be something a little fun for her. And she could use it when talking to Ana.

"How is Ana-san more informed on this, Ryra-sensei?"

Ryra smiled again, but shook her head this time.

"While I'm her fiancee and the other parent of the pregnancy growing in her, such a personal question should be answered by her. You should already have the basic idea though if you think about it since I wasn't careful in my words until now. Give me a chance to do the call with Ana and Asuna before asking Ana that question though. I'm sure the question can wait for a half hour, unless she's actually doing the full time raider schedule with everyone?"

Kirito giggled softly, the unrestrained feminine side comfortably filled the somewhat empty spaces perfectly.

"Ana-san really is the perfect raid leader. And the perfect onee-san. She even woke us up early this morning and made everyone breakfast and lunch before we were awake. Is she not already a Mom? With that kind of habit...ah, but her most incredible ability is when she fights seriously. She didn't open her eyes once today, unless she did when I wasn't looking. Not seeing, and using regular attacks hitting the critical weakness locations with more than enough damage to be considered using skills, and dodging every attack perfectly? The only thing for sure is completely ridiculous, is that thing you said before, that her heart rate didn't change at all."

Ryra nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, her heart rate did change, but I have extremely good vision, so I could see the small change. It was during the boss fight I nearly interrupted. She's been so deathly calm most of the time since I first met her twenty years ago, so keep in mind, if she's irritable or anything other than completely calm, something really needs to change, or she might possibly leave you. Even after my request to her."

The notion frightened Kirito.

"Then I really do need to be careful...and calm down like you've been telling me. Thank you, Ryra-sensei."

Kirito smiled gently, and the natural expression assured Ryra that things were going to be positive for the near, possibly distant future as long as Kirito continued.

"I'll be waiting for whenever you decide to talk more, or ask any questions regarding health. For now, I'll be switching over to talking with Asuna and Ana."

Ryra finished the conversation with Kirito, waving through the camera showing Ryra, and ending the call. She quickly switched the call to connect to Asuna's NerveGear. The call took a few seconds to go through. Asuna was alone on the other end of the communication, it seemed. Asuna had an expression which told that she was uncomfortable. Beyond simple discomfort.

"Ryra-sensei...why did you talk to my parents the way you did?"

Ryra didn't even have to think about it.

"When your father came in, the first thing out of his mouth after noting you were being cared for properly, was that he was frustrated with you distracting yourself from your lessons, and followed up that he was going to have you married to keep you under control. That's no parent. That's someone who only believes in possession. Even your mother was atrocious. Both of them constantly gave the arrogant sense they had the right to decide ever facet of your life, which is essentially treating you as a slave, or a doll, not a daughter. As a doctor and a rational minded person, people like that don't deserve to have a child. Let me ask, how is your older brother in consideration to them?"

Asuna grew more and more depressed she heard the impression her parents gave. She couldn't dispute or argue how terrible they were. She wanted to think her parents were better than that, but in the eyes of someone from outside of the family were to see how those parents treated her, of course something was incredibly morally wrong.

"Your mother did have a bit of a redeeming moment, but I'm still considering not informing her on the connection being made so we can talk to you. Unless you have something to tell her. My hesitation to tell her is more because of your father though. For him to so much as think of marrying you off to a man when you're still so young in this day and age without your say is utterly disgusting."

Asuna flinched again with everything she heard about how bad her father had been. It was obvious what kind of relationship she had with her family. Ryra almost thought that with that kind of home situation, there was no sense in getting out of the game. After all, she could choose to live her life however while inside of the game.

"Why did you suggest taking care of me? You don't even know me..."

Ryra still didn't need to think about it, it was her instinct to say what she had earlier to her father.

"Well, some times when people are aspiring to be parents, they say things which would make more sense as a parent. Consider it like this. If you were to find someone younger than you who had parents who were treating them terribly, would you just leave things as they were, or would you call child care services? In my position, I'm also your doctor, soon to be a parent, and I'm determined to be a good parent. Letting a bad parent ruin their child's life, is something no good parent allows. I can't even report them to the police since as of yet, there's no crime. I could call child care services, but you're a teenager. You need support to figure out your life, and people who will walk beside you instead of dragging you along somewhere you don't want to go. I know for certain that Ana and I would be much better support in helping you find something you'd want to do more than what you would otherwise be dragged into."

Asuna was looking down, tears could be seen dripping down from her face in the virtual environment, and she sobbed softly. She was trying to not let herself be heard.

"Don't even worry about how much time you end up in the game. Consider it not a day you lose here, but another day you live. You can appreciate your life, grow close to new friends you make there, learn some other useful life skills from Ana, call and talk to me by adding the account I'm using right now to talk to you, anything you want. When you get out, you can decide on what you do. You could even choose to go back to your parents if you end up deciding that. I'd just hope you're ready for that."

Asuna sobbed a little more clearly, and wiped the tears from her face. She looked up, and sighed. Asuna seemed to still have indecision, but she was happier than she had been.

"Is it really okay though? My parents might...might do something to ruin your career..."

Ryra shook her head and sighed in relief that Asuna was concerned about that.

"They can't do anything to my career. Even if your father were a politician he couldn't do anything to my position. I was chosen as the head doctor by the government for the youth cases of this incident. My word is considered law. Even so, I'll probably change location to another hospital after we all get through this. Ana always wanted to live in the countryside after all, and maybe that would be a good change for you as well if you're interested."

Asuna's gaze changed when the mention of the countryside came. She smiled softly and a sense of memory danced about her expression.

"I...would like to visit my grandparent's place. They lived in the countryside. A small cozy cottage in the woods. It was my favourite place when I was little, and...maybe showing that place to my parents again would tell them that they have their priorities mixed."

There were thoughts and things mentioned by her which didn't quite make sense to Ryra, but she was happy that it seemed Asuna was fond of the idea, going out into the country.

"Tell me more about your grandparents place sometime. Maybe Ana and I could take you there someday."

Asuna smiled and nodded her head.

"Thank you, Ryra-sensei."

Ryra somehow didn't feel as happy being called doctor by Asuna. She had the temptation to ask her to call her "Mom", but she held herself back, smiled and nodded her head.

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about, Asuna? And why is Ana not part of this conversation?"

Asuna sighed and shook her head.

"I guess saying doctor-patient confidentiality wouldn't work since Ana-san would also be part of this because of your relationship and her connection to all this...I didn't know that before though. I'll talk to her about it soon. Again, thank you Ryra-sensei."

Asuna made a few movements with her hands, adding Ryra's account to her contacts, and she closed the call from her end.

Asuna laid back on her inn room bed, and she sighed. A knock at the door came, surprising her and dizzying her a little when she suddenly sat up. She hadn't expected getting that kind of dizziness inside of the virtual environment...but then she really hadn't thought of it either, or a lot of things within the virtual environment. She was still puzzled with how the cooking worked. When she saw Ana perform cooking in the game the first time with the tang bread, she had only seen her going through menus, then the ingredients were together, and out of the inventory, and she put the loaf into the oven to cook. It sounded simple when thinking about it, but it also took away from the fun of cooking. She had spent a lot of time learning to cook before, so if she couldn't personally work with the ingredients and such, she might not enjoy it so much. With a sigh, she stood up from the bed, walked over to the door and pulled it open to answer.

On the other side of the door...was a very surprisingly clothed Kirito. Kirito was in the base pyjamas, which was surprising and made Asuna immediately want to turn away thinking Kirito was a pervert all of a sudden, but something was different. A second look, showed that Kirito wasn't male. At least, not within the game.

"Can...can we talk inside?"

The much more feminine tone and movements, as if unbound from whatever had been holding Kirito's personality back before, caught Asuna even more off guard. She stepped aside anyway, letting Kirito into the room. She closed the door behind, and motioned for Kirito to sit down beside her on the bed when she returned there.

"What...is it, Kirito?"

Asuna was nervous of what Kirito might say. Eventually, a deep breath, followed by a heavy set of words filled Asuna's hearing.

"I'm going to be a girl. I'm sorry for being a little pushy...but this isn't something I'm comfortable telling Leafa and Sinon yet. They've known me for so long, and suddenly I'm making the decision. In the game, my body was made female, and it made me more confused about who I really am. Ryra-sensei told me to use my time in here to figure myself out, and since you're about my age...maybe you could teach me some things. I'd also like to help you out, however I can."

Asuna felt as if someone had just grabbed her head and shaken her like a paint mixing machine. She felt so entirely dizzy from the words, she had to question if it was really Kirito beside her. The name floating overhead definitely matched though, so she had to admit the reality of the situation.

"I'm...not sure what you could help me with though..."

Asuna was happy not long ago, from the conversation with Ryra. However, the conversation with Kirito was right away sending her into confusion. How was she supposed to deal with it? Having the same thing confessed to her that Ana had said was in her past. Ana was already a woman through and through, while Kirito seemed to have made the choice to go along that path. Asuna hadn't the first idea what kind of mind it took to make that kind of decision. Maybe it was just being stuck in a situation that the mind and emotions were so uncomfortable with the body, or there was acceptance. It seemed more an acceptance thing with Kirito in the moment, since the body was entirely female within the game.

"But...I guess I'll at least say you're already...just calm down like Ryra said earlier."

Asuna tried to tide over the topic, but she was still nervous about talking with Kirito about the topic.

"Can you help me with ways you know to stay calm?"

Kirito suggested Asuna helping her that way, then paused for a bit, and suggested something she could help Asuna with.

"And I can help you find things interesting to do inside the game. Ana might be able to do a better job with something like that, but I still have some experience with finding interesting and fun things in games. And, you seem like you need to find something you'll really like in here. Cooking isn't as fun here, but other things might really catch your interest. Maybe you'll even like some crafting."

Asuna sighed, and followed up with a smile. Kirito was really just being honest, and as kind as possible about the situation. Looking for help in getting used to the decision to accept the feminine side of life, and offering to help her with her current sense of indecision. Even though it was obvious Ryra hadn't told Kirito, there was a sense that maybe everyone was becoming more observing with Ana around, and it might be something to make Kirito that much more rounded a person. If she were to calm down enough and learn directly from Ana, Kirito could end up being very impressive, maybe even key person in everyone getting out of the game.

"Then...with calming yourself, the first point is always to start with breathing. Match your breathing with mine."

This went for a few minutes, and Asuna was impressed how much the atmosphere in the room calmed down. Kirito was so calm, Asuna wondered if it was the same person who had been charging full throttle at the monsters all day. She had to admit something as she saw Kirito so calm and peaceful. She was cute, adorable even. She gave a mysterious kind of radiance. It was kind of like looking at Ana the first few times, ethereal like something that was meant to be there in life. The more Asuna looked, the more interested she was in seeing the small details of Kirito's face. Kirito had very pretty and well maintained skin. Her nose was smaller than average, almost like a child, since for some people their noses end up flat at the bottom, or pointed like sagging. Kirito's nose was pretty, like in perfect condition, a lack of age. Her calm expression showed the entire lack of blemishes, a perfect complexion. Her eyes were so much softer and kind when they were closed. Her eye lashes were long, thick and pretty. Her lips were full and soft, smooth like she were wearing a balm on them to keep them in perfect condition. Her chin was soft too, smooth. Her cheeks were full, but she was also slim and her figure as Asuna's gaze drifted, showed that Kirito was actually quite athletic. Her hair was very long, draping over the bed from an upright sitting position. Her hair was straight and silky smooth. With the thick white full dress pyjamas she wore, it was quite a sight. Asuna was mystified, and she noticed that her own heart had been racing while taking in Kirito's appearance. She stood up from the bed, and nodded her head after clapping her face lightly, to try and catch hold of herself.

"Well, that's enough for tonight. Let's ask Ana tomorrow if there's a craft she'll let me take off her hands, one that I find some interest in. I would like to try out the cooking a little more, see how interesting it really is. And...you're nervous to bring it up to Leafa and Sinon, but telling them might be more important. They know you more than the rest of us do, so they could help you in ways that we can't in knowing what you are good with and aren't good with. We don't know how they'll react until you tell them."

Kirito stood up slowly, a little shaken by the sudden suggestion from Asuna, and she smiled softly. She nodded her head, sighing in the end.

"Suddenly I'm surrounded by a bunch of philosophers and doctors. You'd make a good doctor, Asuna. This really helped me so much."

Asuna felt embarrassed a little, and she tried to keep her mind off of the feeling that her heart was racing, as she bid Kirito goodnight, Kirito heading back to her room. Asuna slumped onto the bed, and her mind and heart went on a rampage, fighting each other. She didn't know how to handle the feelings she was experiencing. Were they...? But was she the same as Ryra then? If considering the relationship between Ana and Ryra, it definitely made the most sense.

She set her alarm, and drifted to sleep, wondering what might happen the next day, if her feelings might be exposed.


	9. Chapter 9

~Information Dealing and Crime~

Ana didn't wake anyone up, knowing that they had their alarms set the night before. She had set her alarm to wake her ten minutes before, so that she could get breakfast ready for everyone. When she arrived in the kitchen though, Kirito was waiting for her. Ana smiled, feeling the kind of intents Kirito had toward being up early and waiting in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ana-san."

Ana nodded her head and continued to the main counters in the middle island of the kitchen. She typed a reply to her while she approached.

"Good morning, Kirito. Hearing honorifics feels too stiff though after everything yesterday, so just use my name. Or would you be fine with me calling you Kazuto?"

Kirito shook her head violently enough it gave her the dizzy effect. She staggered for a second until the condition wore off, then giggled softly when she found her balance.

"It's...never mind. Would you be willing to teach me about the cooking here this morning?"

Ana nodded her head in response, materializing everything she would prepare for breakfast on the counter space between them.

"Go over the information for each of them, and I'll explain what each one equates to in real life, or what combines to create which taste. I was able to get a good gauge on taste through the other foods I've prepared since entering the virtual environment, so it's...well, close to the food I normally make outside of the game."

Kirito nodded her head, and examined each of the ingredients, and watched as Ana prepared and mixed different items together. For the current breakfast, Ana mixed together what seemed a batter for pancakes out of a very normal combination, prepared small meat patties which reminded of hamburg steaks, and she started with cooking the steaks, straining out the grease into a broth made of the remaining ingredients. In the end, Kirito was amazed. It wasn't quite a breakfast kind of meal, but the portions and the end plating looked like it was a breakfast. Hamburg topped waffles with side of meat broth vegetable soup. Ana used everything she had pulled from her energy, and Kirito knew there were a lot more materials in her inventory after all their grinding the day before. Ana didn't waste any time before setting out more ingredients and materials on the opposite side of the cooking range

Breakfast was already ready on the one side of the island in the kitchen, so Kirito had to assume that the other food being prepared was for lunch while they were out training up and grinding through the day. She was reminded of how delicious the food was the day before, every meal that Ana prepared was like eating food her mother had made, or of high class restaurant quality. It was so good...

Kirito paid attention to the preparations for lunch, which became a near perfect repeat of the sandwiches they ended up having the day before, using extra produced bread from Ana's cooking the morning before, stuffing the half sliced bread with well cooked and prepared ingredients, and making juice out of fruits that were only available for purchase from npcs. It was safe to assume that later, it would be possible to find the fruits in the fields or dungeons, so there would be less strain on funds for food later. At least, for the time being, the food was keeping them sane instead of suffering from the cardboard of the base bread on the first floor.

Before she knew it, Ana was finished preparing the lunch, and was moving it to her inventory. Kirito was in a daze, taking in the scents and remembering the taste of lunch from the day before. It was incredible. She had also noticed while paying attention to Ana's moving hands, the immense amount of scarring on her hands. Kirito had to assume even the day before, the amount of experience Ana must have in cooking, and no matter how amazing Ana currently was, someone who was blind would of course have a very difficult time becoming so good at something that could potentially be dangerous. The scars on her hands weren't out of place in the slightest on Ana though. They weren't unsightly. They were beautiful. Ana's hands were a proof of determination to follow a passion, and the scars were even tame, not thick with raised flesh like many scars were. The scars on her hands essentially looked more pale in different degrees depending on how old or which kind of scar they were, from cuts, to burns, whatever the cause.

"Do you think you'd be able to help with anything for dinner tonight?"

Another text window appeared in front of Kirito's eyes, and she nodded with a slight flush of embarrassment on her face. She looked up to Ana's face and she noticed the small scar beyond Ana's bangs. Kirito sighed, wondering just how rough a past Ana must have had. So many scars. Were all of them because she was blind? Or were some for different reasons?

Ana motioned for Kirito to grab two of the breakfast plates, and she carried the rest out to the main area. Leafa, Sinon and Asuna were sitting at the table and talking a little about what kind of extra things they might try while stuck in the game.

The information hadn't been passed around to others from them that there might be contact from outside of the game. If there were people who wouldn't get the privilege of speaking with their families or loved ones who found out that other people were going to have the chance, then there would be an uproar, and it would be worse. Ana had told the group this fact as they returned to the inn. They were taking it seriously, which reinforced the belief that they were good kids. She wanted to keep helping and working with them toward the way out.

With the food served, everyone waited for everyone else to be ready. It were as if a family getting ready for the day together, having breakfast. It wouldn't be so strange either if it weren't for the adventuring gear, the mismatching hair on Leafa and Sinon making it feel just that much fantasy and the slight sense that everything was missing just a little something.

Ana noticed everyone waiting and after raising an eyebrow in surprise they were being more polite this time. She held back laughing, and put her hands together.

"My thanks for the meal."

Hearing her whispered voice surprised them. She intentionally tried to keep her voice to the level of whisper. She didn't give much time to consider their hearing her voice, starting at her food. After a second to recover from hearing her talk again, everyone began eating the breakfast.

It wasn't just with breakfast, as after they finished, Asuna and Kirito gathered up the dishes and brought them back to the kitchen. Ana was happy that they were taking the initiative to support the group as much as they could.

"Ana-san, what kind of plan do you have today? Asuna was suggesting maybe we learn about crafting today, or should we wait and build up materials before doing that."

Ana shook her head with a light smile on her face. She typed a response quickly.

"I have crafting covered fine. Just having help with the meals once in a while will be fine. If I had to say one craft that might be trouble later, it might be smithing. Armour smithing would end up a priority, to ensure we're well protected by our gear, so maybe finding someone interested in smithing weapons would be helpful. I could smith our weapons for a while, but eventually it'll be too much to focus on everything. Smithing is one of the more difficult crafting professions in the game because of the amount of materials and time used for each craft. At least, if it's the same as the crafting in that other game I had been playing."

With that response, they showed surprise.

"It isn't too much?"

Ana shook her head.

"No, it would have been easier and I definitely would have done all the crafting alone if we weren't trapped here. However, since we are trapped here, it only makes more sense to concentrate on spending more time levelling up and progressing through the game as fast as possible. To return to our families and ensure our lives aren't too effected by this. One less craft won't effect my levelling too much, but there's a good reason for taking on many crafts. On days later when I'm confident you're ready to handle grinding without me, I can focus on crafting and upgrading us for the next or further progression. I did it this way with Ryra when we were playing together in the other game. It's just time consistency."

With a sigh, she finished sending out the message to them. They didn't know that crafting was effecting her levelling speed. They hadn't been doing any crafting after all, and she had only done some at nights so far before turning in.

"Ana-san is definitely as impressive as the praise in the raid community..."

Those words from Sinon were praising, but she was also very timid. As if hoping she hadn't brought up something Ana would dislike.

Ana started replying to that, and Kirito and Asuna were exiting from the kitchen. Everyone stood up, and Ana sent the message so all of them could see, with the party invite.

"The raid community disliked me. At least, the obsessive people Ryra and I usually ended up with. Because I would end up leading the raids. Even though they usually had a dedicated group and were only short a few people. Even though they already had strategies and a raid leader. The difference, was that they were used to being with their friends. I played those games only to have fun and share in something with Ryra. Those other people who were complaining my raid leading was too different for them, were simply not used to simplifying the raid mechanics. Here, my intention is to build that up from the beginning. We'll not push ourselves too far. We'll do required grinding. We'll do plenty of training for everyone to memorize monster attack patterns so everyone is capable of dodging, while also being ready to heal with potions. We'll always be ready, and my crafting on the side and building my level separately will only contribute. You might not have noticed, but my avatar level has surpassed everyone's, because of the crafting I have been doing at night. It won't be ahead for long though, because we're going to find the dungeon today, and start getting you all ready for the monsters. After grinding through the monsters today enough for materials, I will concentrate more on crafting for tomorrow, and finally make a rapier for Asuna."

The instructions and the organization for the day was...well, it was daunting. Ana was serious though, and they could tell. They all stood, and as soon as Ana started moving, was when everyone had accepted the party invite from her.

By a planter outside of the inn, someone familiar seemed to have slept out on the bench there. Ana was curious why that person wouldn't be able to use an inn. She detoured over to her and poked her cheek gently. It appeared to be enough to wake her.

"Class...ified..."

Ana shook her head and poked Argo's cheek again, between the customization which placed whisker like tattoos on her face. Argo grumbled and pushed herself to an upright sitting position and she yawned heavily.

"What...? Breakfast ready?"

Everyone but Ana laughed softly, since it was so early in the morning. While everyone else laughed, Ana pulled a spare breakfast stuffed bread Kirito hadn't noticed being made before over to Argo. She swayed there while sitting for a few seconds before the scent of the food in her hands woke her up a little. She took a bite of it, some of the cream from the seasoning creating a small moustache effect on her upper lip. As soon as the taste began to register, she woke right up. She stared down at the stuffed bread sandwich in her hands and was utterly speechless for a few seconds. She looked up, and saw a group of her best clients...but also people who had forgotten to reinforce her telling about the butter quest.

"This is way better than the butter you guys never brought back to me! How did you get your hands on this? Kirito, spill it or I'll spill your secret to everyone!"

Argo's somehow refreshingly selfish request wasn't going to work on Kirito, but Ana answered anyway. A text box appeared in front of Argo.

"I've been making meals from ingredients we've been farming together. Apparently I've been keeping them too busy and distracted to fulfil some request of yours?"

Argo sighed and shook her head, taking another bite and squirming and sighing in response to the delicious taste in her mouth.

"How the heck did you do it though? This is better than any food I had IRL. This is ridiculous good!"

Ana sent over the list of ingredients for the stuffed bread she gave to Argo for her breakfast. That was all she sent over.

"It'll just be better if I'm not the only one capable of feeding the people who are easily going to get tired of the same bread with butter...and run out of butter soon. I'm sure you can find a decent price for this kind of information. Now...an explanation to your sleeping on a bench in the middle of the town?"

Argo finished eating the breakfast sandwich and sighed in satisfaction before responding.

"Thank you for your business. And...let's just say someone doesn't like information dealers and picked my pockets last night when I needed to get to sleep. Oh well. I'm used to sleeping on worse than a bench."

"Care to give their name?"

Ana wore an obviously annoyed expression. Everyone was able to tell that it was a very bad idea to withhold that information from her, but then there would also be heavy consequences for the person who picked Argo's pockets. Argo didn't know just how deadly Ana was, but she could sense danger when she looked at Ana.

"Uhm...Ki-Kibaou, was his name..."

Ana turned on her feet and Argo immediately felt a sense of regret. Just what would Ana do to him after she heard of what his actions did to Argo. For her, it was only one night of uncomfortable sleep. However, Ana knew that Argo would be more tired throughout the day.

Ana put up her sensing ability to search for Kibaou within the town. Her search directed her to another inn. There, she bypassed the NPCs, went up to the door where he was located beyond, and she tapped the door once with the very first combat skill she used. Thrust. This one movement nearly shook the entire inn, but definitely shook the floor beneath the feet of everyone in the hall.

The person on the other side of the door, crashed to the floor. Assuredly off of his bed. He angrily grumbled and made his way to the door to make a complaint with the person who disturbed his sleep, and glared down at Ana's short figure.

The moment he stepped out of the door, he was picked. All money was removed from his inventory. Ana kept her eyes closed as usual, and he hadn't realized he'd been picked. He continued to glare and started shouting.

"The heck you want? I should teach you a lesson for disturbing my sleep like that!"

A text window in front of him appeared from Ana. For once, it wasn't a message to him in place of her speaking, but a duel request, with the entirety of money she picked from him on the line.

"H-hey! You stole my money!"

"And you stole money from a friend of mine last night. She had to sleep outside on a bench. You had better hope you're lucky with money drops, or you won't have a bed consistently for a while."

That text box from Ana made him even more angry. He was able to quickly put it together that Ana was talking about Argo, and he wasn't going to go easy on someone who would work with an information dealer.

"Digging your own grave, foreigner. I'm a beta tester."

The rest of the group with Ana were shaking their heads at his confidence. He had no idea what was about to happen to him. He followed her out to a decent area in the middle of the town for them to fight, and accepted the duel.

"Oh? You have a pretty high level for being so early in this. Are you also a beta tester?"

"Kind of."

Ana drew her sword, but waited for Kibaou to make his move. He pulled his one handed sword from his back. It was worn the same way Kirito wore her sword. But...he was showing immediately how inexperienced he was at holding a weapon. He staggered and tried finding his balance. He might have been okay when fighting monsters, but he was definitely hopeless in a fight against another player.

He finally found his balance, and got into the starting position for sonic leap, charging forward at Ana. She easily dodged to the side out of his path and sighed. She didn't bother counter attacking. He should learn how bad he was at fighting from the duel, so she would drag it out a little.

He charged again, this time using the vertical skill. Again, Ana dodged. It was slow and boring, his attacks against her. He was terrible at chaining movements. He relied completely on the skills, and he wasn't at all capable of stopping his skills and adapting to a movement. He kept up, skill after skill against her until his skill points ran out, then he blindly hacked away toward her. Not once was he able to land a hit. This went on for a while. He was shouting enough that other players who had been waking up and starting for the day were looking in on the duel.

Everyone's feeling about his movements was that he looked like a child swinging around a stick. Ana, felt that he was even worse. He had no hope in growing decent. He had no base ability to work on the things he lacked skill in. Finally, enough people were around and upset with how badly he was performing, Ana started attacking, but not once did she use a skill. She lightly cut at him, not once touching a weak point like she normally would have in a fight. He was pathetically easy to chain stun with her weak normal attacks, it only took fifteen seconds of lightly grazing him with her sword to diminish his health to half, which ended the duel.

"If I ever hear about you picking the pockets of others, expect this to happen again. And your opinion on information dealers, doesn't hold any ground here. We're in a situation where it's life or death. Information dealers can hold the information required to save the lives of people out in the fields. They use their strength of communication instead of putting themselves in needless danger, so that the information strong players gather, can be distributed to the weaker who need the information to try and become strong. Ah, and your comment about being a beta tester? It means nothing. I was in the beta test for five minutes. Everyone who spectated this can easily vouch for your complete inability to fight. Perhaps you're more suited to being an information dealer yourself. Or, get into crafting. Cause trouble again, and I'll see to having you imprisoned until you learn your lesson."

He was speechless, furious, and he charged at her again. The town they were in, wasn't considered a safe zone since it wasn't the main city of the floor. Him landing a hit on her would give him an orange marker, which indicated if people were criminals within the game. Minor offences such as thievery would go away over a short time, and getting the orange marker could also happen from retaliating to someone who forces you into battle. If someone murdered within the game, being the one to start a fight, they would be stuck with their orange marker throughout the game.

Ana dodged his attack yet again, as easily as taking a step to the side. At this point, the spectators noticed her eyes had been closed the entire time. Some who had noticed Kirito, Asuna, Leafa and Sinon being with Ana from the beginning, asked if Ana was blind. With their response that she was indeed blind, everyone was even more shocked. There were only about twenty people in the gathering, but they were all at least decent players within the game.

Kibaou was relentlessly attacking, blindly and hatefully. He wasn't even trying to avoid hitting the spectators. As soon as Ana noticed his attacks growing nearer the spectators, she begrudgingly tossed an immobilizing net, made of insect string from hornet monsters of the floor, on top of him. Thankfully, it wasn't something that would give her an orange marker, and he wouldn't be able to get out of it on his own. The spectators had become even more worried with his reckless charging nearly hitting them, and had gained some distance.

Kibaou wasn't able to put the words together, but he was still furious. Ana opened the messaging system and made a contact to administration. In her message, she labelled Kibaou as a dangerous player who needed time to reflect on his actions. In return for the message, seconds after, she was returned with an automated response of thanks for supporting the systems of the game, and she was given an unlimited force teleporting crystal, to send any orange players to the prison. Kibaou's marker was turned to orange as well, with the message. Ana walked over to him, and tapped the crystal to his forehead. He disappeared, and was replaced with a text window explaining he was relocated to the prison in the Town of Beginnings. Everyone saw the window, and sighed in relief.

Argo pushed through the crowd and walked up to Ana.

"Why did you do that? And for a blind woman, you're way too good at fighting..."

Argo's words reached the rest of the crowd, who seemed to still be interested in Ana. They waited for another infamous text box to appear and tell them what she was saying.

"Here's your picked money. That was only part of it. People need to know that their actions have consequences. Even if information dealers are frowned on in other games, it's completely unacceptable to treat you badly within this for being an information dealer. Your role is far more important this time around than in other games, because people's lives are literally on the line. You being around to tell unknowing players important information which can keep them alive is infinitely more important than some self righteous idiot making his stand against information dealers. Be proud of yourself."

Ana continued with a private message to her, a list of different healing items which could be made from ingredients and materials from monster drops. Everyone was inspired by Ana's words, and the spectators not related to the group she adventured with so far were excited to work with Argo, get her information and get information from her. It was an exchange. Every player helping each other through one reliable channel. An information dealer.

Argo was crying from the weight of how much Ana was changing the situation for Argo within the game. Argo had assumed from the beginning that it would be rough, and it was mostly because it was habit for her to play as an information dealer. She was ready to accept being hated and attacked by some players who had bias against players like her. She was ready for it...but she definitely wasn't ready for someone as generous and kind to help her. She normally would have been a little more selfish herself, trying to get information for cheap, or being shady in other games, but with a person like Ana supporting her, she was going to have to be more honest and helpful. So to not tarnish Ana's generosity and kindness.

She took a deep breath while wiping the tears from her eyes, and sighed before smiling at Ana, thanking her and promising to uphold Ana's support of her the best she could.


	10. Chapter 10

~First Dungeon~

Most people still were unable to narrow down were the dungeon might be, since there seemed to be some sort of camouflage to it, making it impossible to see until close. Since Ana had been combing them steadily across the fields and islands of the first floor, they were easily able to find the dungeon on their third day within the game. Ana had an estimate that it might take much longer if other people were reacting more along the lines of those who trapped themselves in the Town of Beginnings, because of their fear to work on themselves into becoming capable of fighting forward up through the game. Because of how well levelled the group had become, they were totally ready for the optional mini boss which showed near the entrance to the dungeon. It was easy to enter the dungeon without alerting the mini boss.

It was actually quite a good thing that other people hadn't found the dungeon before them, because while Kirito started the pull of the mini boss, Ana was quickly able to notice the massive jump in difficulty from the other boss monsters of the floor. The elder kobold warrior they encountered which was assumed to be a dungeon gateway boss, was also one of the larger monsters they had encountered. This monster was taller and more muscular than other kobold, and didn't follow the usual patterns of kobold. Ana had to heal Kirito a few times with items before she switched with her.

The boss monster was a fast attacker, so it would be difficult for people who didn't learn the patterns first to fight. Kirito was having a very difficult time, and Ana was receiving a call from Ryra. The cause for the call would obviously be that Kirito's heart rate had shot up. Of course. No matter how much Kirito was working on her calming exercises, she was still facing a frightening situation that could potentially kill her. It wasn't so bad during the beta, because death simply sent the players back to their last registered safe point, which would have been the Town of Beginnings on the first floor. This time however, there was no reviving. Everything had to be considered dangerous.

When Ana switched with Kirito, she managed to stun the boss monster, and she shoved it back enough that Kirito would be out of the effective sweeping range of the attacks. She was fluid in her dodging, sometimes low, sometimes above. Sometimes just a step to the side was all it took. She motioned for the rest of the party into their positions and had them start putting damage out on it. The issues with the boss monster compared to the other floor boss monsters in the fields, was that the current boss had awkward attack patterns, for one. It was also nimble and fast, dodging attacks as much as throwing them out. It would grow more intelligent the longer a battle would draw on, but Ana wouldn't let the battle drag on. The boss also had instead of the usual two health bars, three. It was more defensive as well with the armour that it wore. It didn't have as many exposed weak points.

Still, Ana wasn't pushed to using any of the programmed skills within the game because of the strengths of the kobold warrior. She snaked her sword in like a needle in and stabbed through the weaknesses of the kobold, the weaknesses giving way to the bleeding effect, draining the kobold. It only became easier to attack the kobold when she used her attacks to weaken and remove the armour from the kobold. Before the boss monster was down one full health bar, all of its armour was gone. Unfortunately, the loss of its armour gave way to the monster moving even faster. Thankfully, Ana had assumed it would be the case, and she adjusted to the speed increase as smoothly as if she was growing faster with chopping vegetables with a knife on a cutting board. The weaknesses of the monster exposed, the health dropped more rapidly. Because of the more rapid drop, only a minute later into the flurry of strikes on the monster brought it to the first additional mechanic. The new mechanic made the monster leap back, and attempt to switch to another target.

For the first time, Ana used a skill. She only used the sonic leap to close the distance though and keep its attention on her. She unleashed another flurry of staggering attacks, making it easy for the others to try and get in their attacks and diminish the monster's health even faster.

The draining of the health finally reached the last fifth of the total health, and the final mechanic was revealed. The boss dropped his weapon, and his claws extended. It was a whole attack pattern change completely. However startling a change of mechanics it was, it was within Ana's expectations, and she was thankfully more knowledgeable about how to dodge an unarmed kobold. She danced between the swipes and strikes of the kobold's hands and claws, her sword easily carving through the hands and making them weaker. Everyone contributed their best skills, and the last of the health dropped. The boss didn't even make a dying animation, exploding into the data fragments and disappearing into pixels of the environment while still standing and staggered from the tempest of attacks. It was truly a heavy realization to Kirito and Sinon, that they were able to see a boss monster so heavily suppressed. Not once had it landed a hit on Ana, no matter how close it managed to get with its blade, hands or claws. There was only a short amount of time in the entirety of the fight that the monster wasn't under her control when she switched in to main tank.

Everyone was exhausted however. Such a fight was definitely going to drain most people. A glance at their hunger gauges told them just how tired they had become, their stamina depleting into their hunger from how much they pushed themselves. Ana passed out to everyone their lunches, and she sat down beside the entrance door to the dungeon.

Still, Ana hadn't opened her eyes during the fight. The others had to wonder about Ana. Would she be even more terrifyingly powerful if she opened her eyes, or would they only impede her ability? They all had their eyes on her as they sat down and slowly ate their sandwiches. Ana having finished her sandwich first, she checked around them, finding many gathering items. There were many herbs, and there were many small ores which could easily be picked up beside a mineral outcrop. The mining aspect reminded her that she would need to make herself a pickaxe to harvest her own materials. There had been very few kobolds they encountered so far which held metal weapons, and their metal materials couldn't be used unless many were gathered to make one simple low levelled craft. It was...annoying. That all smithing was locked behind either having pure metals locked behind mining, or wasteful amount of time poured into fighting the right type of monster for those drops.

She would pour the metals of the kobold drops they had accrued into a pickaxe for the very first craft, so that she could gather more useful ores and minerals straight from the normal gathering method. Then, she would work on Asuna's rapier and everyone's armour. For the time being, it ashamed her that they were all still in the beginner level gear they all started with. She should normally be more prepared for a situation and not need to be concerned about her party when they would eventually be going out on their own without her to gather her materials from monsters or gaining their experience from levelling.

Ana sighed after gathering all of the materials around them, and she recalled how disappointing all of the boss monster drops had been so far. She approached the entrance of the dungeon, and waited for everyone to gather up with her.

The situation inside of the dungeon was...well, it was more relaxed than fighting the monster outside of it, but not by much. Usually, there were a few monsters, and all of the monsters were kobolds. Different variations, and while they weren't too difficult as far as their mechanics and attack patterns being the same as the other kobolds they had met on the floor, they hit much harder, so Ana either had to tank the whole groups and let everyone else focus on eliminating one after another, or she would be spending a lot of the healing items on keeping everyone alive.

With disappointment, they left the dungeon before progressing far enough to even discover a treasure chest. When they returned to the inn they had been frequenting, there was a crowd around Argo's bench from the morning where she had been found sleeping. When the group reached close enough, they could see that it was mostly a gathering of many players who had ventured from the Town of Beginnings and were looking for life saving information before they would set out and try their hands at fighting the monsters. Argo was having a difficult time, because some of the topics were basic MMO gaming knowledge. It was insulting to hear those questions asked, from an MMO gamer perspective. Kirito walked through the crowd as best she could to stand beside Argo, and shouted for everyone to be quiet and make a line. The rest of the party organized everyone, and for the odd person who was too impatient after waiting a long while, whatever they did know and they could provide to the people in line, they told. Well, aside Ana's text boxes she sent to the recipients.

From food, to potions, to levelling zones...every kind of question was asked. Finally, at one point, someone asked if anyone had found the dungeon. Kirito answered that question.

"We found the dungeon today. We'll provide the map information tomorrow morning to get there."

Ana's text boxes continued the speech and Kirito stopped explaining, embarrassed at the contents of the text boxes because she knew how dangerous it was to even so much as mention the dungeon to the people so desperate to get out of the game.

"The dungeon, however, is incredibly difficult. Unless going in with a very skilled and developed team, I highly recommend against attempting the dungeon. There is a boss guarding the entrance of the dungeon itself, which was difficult enough for our team. We are still at a point where it is difficult to work on our gear, for everyone. Even with a larger, well developed raid team, it would be difficult to proceed through the dungeon. No matter how good or decent one may be at leading a raid team, no matter how skilled a player of usual MMO games, this is a physical challenge which most people here won't have the stamina to face. I greatly urge for everyone to train and become stronger before attempting the dungeon."

The crowd went silent when they all received their text boxes from her. The rest of the team with Ana grouped together and showed their determination to stand by Ana's words. They were still exhausted and sore from attempting the dungeon. It would be the best place for them to level together, but they would not be levelling there the next day when Ana would be taking it off in order to get a good start on progressing the crafting possibilities. They definitely needed their new upgraded gear before attempting the dungeon again. The next best training ground for them without Ana, would be an area somewhat close to the dungeon, which would help them in noticing and deterring people from recklessly attempting the dungeon without being prepared.

Everyone realized how serious the situation was, but when the map information instead of being passed around to everyone, was passed to Argo alone, there was some distress in the crowd. They only needed to buy the information from Argo to find the dungeon, but the price for it would obviously be expensive, so to make sure the people at least invested the time and care into earning the money to reach the dungeon. They should be at least some level of prepared.

There were other ways to get to the dungeon without paying, but none of that was on their minds. They were so distracted by the fact that Ana gave Argo the map information, they couldn't think of another method at the moment. Ana and the others left for the inn, and Argo was relieved of her massive crowd of information seekers.

Ana kept it on her mind, different ways for normal people to get through the dungeon without a very prepared team leading them. She tried figuring out a way to make it possible to clear the dungeon soon, but it seemed to her the answer would take a while. Getting people geared enough that they would take less damage, and have enough healing items distributed to cover any losses of health. She was not good enough with people to teach all of those people. She was surprisingly getting better at handling being around Asuna, Kirito, Leafa and Sinon, but other people were still a way off from being comfortable with them. She needed to work at her anxiety. It was one unchanging fact of her life which got in the way of a lot of things, past and present. Presently, it would get in the way of any floor boss battles they might face in the near to distant future. She imagined that most floors would require being at least a certain level of prepared and having a larger amount of people in raids to handle the weight of how difficult some of the bosses would pose. Floor bosses after all, would definitely be a lot more challenging than any other monster on the floor.

Dinner time came and passed. Ana puzzled over how to make it easier, and the only solution she could come up with, was to teach each of her current team how to lead a team like herself, how to handle teaching and dodging the patterns of the monsters, so that they could teach and ready others for the larger scale battles. She wouldn't know how immense the challenge of later floors would be until they would face the floor boss. From knowing how difficult the first floor boss would be, she would be able to gauge how much effort would be needed to put in for the further floor bosses. Perhaps having her alone around inside of the game wouldn't make a huge difference with the amount of time that everyone would be trapped.

The day ended, at least as far as regular activities. Before going to bed herself, she went out into the town after everyone else was in their rooms, and she went to the shopping area within the town, to find tools for crafting. The base level items were fine. She needed the base level crafting items to make a dent in certain things. She already had the tools for her alchemy and tailoring, but she needed the tools for more refined work, such as a hammer for crafting a pickaxe. Or a saw or chisels for working wood.

She easily found the shopping area. While there, she noticed that there were a few other people out and about for the night. They were seemingly just browsing the selection, or walking around since they weren't yet tired enough to need to sleep. It wasn't entirely the case though. There were a few of those people who were specifically targeting her. Whether it be their aim for the map that had been given to Argo earlier, or other reasons tied to how she had become known, there was a number of reasons she was being watched.

There were some people who were looking at her for pure interest sake though, hearing about the blind woman who was without doubt the strongest person currently in the game. The person who solved the issues with the information dealers, punished the first considered criminal player within the game, and the person who led the party to discover the dungeon. She was famous, whether she wanted it or not. In her opinion, it wasn't a good thing to be famous. Ever.

She managed to purchase the crafting tools she had yet to add to her inventory, and started making her way back to the inn. She made it obvious and easy for the people following her to take a chance at whatever they planned to attempt on her. At least, at this point she had rested and recovered enough from the dungeon experience before to be able to handle any one or two people if they showed any skill level below Kirito, which was quite a range to cover. She had to assume that most of the people inside of the game were currently worse than Kirito's level.

Because of her confidence to lure them out, a group of seven of the people following her positioned themselves around her in the square. The feeling she felt from their presence, gave her the sense that they might be experienced in playing MMOs, but she felt no pressure, the weakest of killing intent, but it was still killing intent. She knew killing intent well, because of the experience she had protecting Ryra in Shibuya. The people around her intended to kill her, but the more she heard about them and sensed, the less she realized the need to worry about them. She sighed and stopped walking. They started closing the distance toward her, drawing their weapons.

She could tell that they were well coordinated, and it was very possible that those people were their own kind of raid group, aiming to bully her to death if they could. She easily stepped out of the range of their attacks, their blades glancing off each other and they all became confused with her sudden absence where she should have been caught on their attacks. They were organized, but they were taking it too much like a normal game where you can't control the character much as far as full body movements. All of their cursors lit up orange from the contact with each others weapons. With the signal they were marked orange, Ana pulled the prison porting crystal from her inventory and activated it. All the crystal needed, was to be activated near an orange marked player.

"I would play with you, but playing would be much smarter when we're not playing with life. Take care of yourselves in prison."

Her text box to them followed them to prison, as they all flashed out of sight from the middle of the small town. She didn't even need to try. Ana yawned and made her way the rest of the way back to the inn. There, she was greeted by the NPCs, and she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom there. She closed the door behind her, and began her work on the crafting. Thankfully, she would be able to do any of the crafting anywhere, but she assumed crafting would be better with more appropriate equipment within the game later, like with the game all of her instinct on it came from.

She started with continuing her work on the alchemy and tailoring. Those were easy after all. However, she noticed at some point along the way, relying on the guidance system felt to take away from the quality of what she crafted. She still had plenty of materials left for crafting, so she stopped part way in, and took the tools in her hands properly, wielding them in the ways she had learned, and she used the vision given to her in the game to get a sense for the tailoring within the game. Once she got the hang of doing it with her own hands and not using the guidance system, it went surprisingly quick. She managed to easily run through five new high quality cloth sets for everyone to wear under their armour. The cloth armour, when compared to the starting equipment, more than doubled the defence of the cloth. With such an improvement, she was eager to get to the rest of the crafting, doing it by hand. She was experienced with the knowing bit, for crafting. The game was giving her a near guaranteed technique to arrive at high quality production.

She continued on, arriving at many of the high quality clothing copies she could sell for the next day. She also produced a lot of high quality base level potions. The high quality potions regenerated more health over time. There was also high quality basic status affliction items she managed to create, which not only cured the low level afflictions, but also recovered some health. She realized when she finished with her normal night crafting, that she had stayed up later than usual. She needed to be more careful. She returned everything to her inventory, and set her alarm for the usual time, so that she would be able to have the breakfast ready on time in the morning...no, she set it for sooner than her usual time, so that she would have time to try out cooking properly instead of using the system's guidance.

When she awakened, she immediately headed for the kitchen. When she arrived there, she put out all of the ingredients from her inventory she would use, and she got her hands busy with the equipment in the kitchen. The rush of the feeling, working the kitchen like she normally would her own kitchen outside of the game, was intense. The feeling of cutting the ingredients or cracking the eggs by hand, the feeling of whisking ingredients together to form the familiar textures. The rich scent which wafted through the virtual environment when the food was set to cook...it was remarkable. It felt nearly as if she had been returned to real life, and merely moved to a different kitchen...because her kitchen was smaller.

The food finished before Kirito arrived to find out that breakfast was ready, and more intense in scent and appearance than usual. Perfectly visually plated, and looking like it was literally made by hand. Kirito assumed that it must have been just the difference between a high quality craft and a normal quality craft in the game, but when she saw Ana keep going, starting preparing the ingredients for the lunch, Kirito's jaw dropped, and the rich scents of the ingredients made her mouth water with the desire to divulge in her hunger. Ana's cooking by hand was also a surprise, because it was a literal view of how Ana worked in her own kitchen. Ana didn't need to keep her eyes closed in real life not to see anything though, and Kirito didn't know what Ana's kitchen was like.

Kirito was surprised that Ana was suddenly doing everything by hand though, and when her curiosity got to her, she decided to ask Ana why she was.

"Ana, why are you doing everything by hand this time?"

Ana barely paused with the preparations for the lunch ingredients, and the expected text box appeared in front of Kirito.

"Properly crafting by hand and with personal skill instead of using the guidance crafting system programmed into the game gives so far, a ninety nine percent chance of high quality. At least, as far as calculating the rate from last night's tailoring, alchemy, and today's breakfast and lunch. Everything except one status ailment potion has been high quality with doing it by hand. Ah, and here's your new cloth armour, and pyjamas."

A trade window followed the text window, and Kirito stared at the stat comparison window for each of the new items. Even better than the base stat being doubled, there was added resistances. The cross stitch tailoring Ana had done provided resistance to stabbing attacks, slashing attacks, and blunt attacks. It wasn't a lot, but it was far better than the three points of defence each clothing provided before. Even the pyjamas had a unique and cute design which made Kirito happier than she had been when Asuna agreed to go shopping together on later floors for clothing.

Kirito equipped the new gear sent to her, and sighed in complete satisfaction from the feel of the cloth. It wasn't just stronger in many ways, but also far comfier. Plus, the design was more feminine and well designed than the basic tunics which were slightly torn and rough. Ana could do nothing about the colour as of yet, so the off-white cloth felt completely out of place with the brown and grey leather and metal armours Kirito otherwise wore within view. Kirito removed the other armour and smiled while looking down at herself, and she had the idea to take a look at her reflection in the status screen. She smiled with the sight of the reflection of herself.

"These clothes are amazing! How do you even tailor these clothes without seeing them?!"

Ana breathed a light snicker toward the question and another window popped up in front of Kirito. Kirito was further impressed with the answer.

"I did use my virtual vision, but only for the start of the tailoring. I learned quite a lot about the craft from the guided system."

Kirito shook her head, realizing once again, it was pointless to question the possibilities of Ana. It was a little disappointing though. There had been a chance to see Ana's eyes again, and it was lost.

"I'm so eager for breakfast now though...should I try and wake everyone up a little early, or are you going to take long with the lunch preparation?"

Ana shook her head. During their conversation and Kirito's admiration of the new cloth, Ana finished making the lunch. She had also just finished sending a message to the others.

"On their way."

Kirito smiled and giggled softly. Ana motioned Kirito over, and sent another text window.

"Put the food for everyone else' lunch in your inventory. I've already put my lunch in my inventory. After breakfast, I'll have a request for gathering while you all do your training today. I'd like you to take my place with the leading today. However, I want you to try and consider the situation more as if you are being expected to move like myself. By now, surely you have learned plenty of my movements when I fought many of the different monsters. Your heart will be more than fine if you perform my movements properly."

Kirito nodded her head, stashing the lunch for the rest of their party in her inventory, and grabbing two of the plates as per usual, carrying them into the inn lounge. The rest of the party were making their way down the stairs into the main area at the same time Kirito and Ana left the kitchen.

Even the NPCs reacted to the scent of the food, so when Asuna, Leafa and Sinon caught a whiff of the breakfast, they nearly gravitated over like floating ghosts instead of using their feet properly. It was a little humorous to Kirito, noticing how much it affected them. She was curious just how silly she might have looked at first smelling the high quality cooked food.

To no surprise, everyone was filled with surprise at how simple the difference was. The food felt and tasted completely real. The food was delicious, even more an impact than they had experienced from the same recipe before. Everyone had to wonder while the experienced the difference of high quality, just how much work went into all of the sensation programming. Ana knew that they had used a lot of the work she had done with the quality difference, but it did still surprise her at first. She was surprised that programming had been integrated.

After breakfast, the rest of the group were given their new cloth gear, and Ana passed the new high quality healing items to Asuna.

"I trust you will be the most ready for using these should anything happen out there today. Now...I'd like you all to not just spend time in the good experience area near the front of the dungeon. After lunch, I'd like you to go to the small cavern area we discovered on the way to the dungeon as well. From there, I'd like you to take the new pickaxe I will be crafting before you head out, and grab me as much ore as possible. There were also some monsters near there, so you can take turns, one person collecting the materials, the rest fighting some of the monsters of the area. Carefully of course. Kirito has everyone's lunch on her as well. I have asked her to lead everyone today, so please act as if she's speaking my words."

With agreement and the new gear switched out, everyone was even more impressed with Ana. They knew she was going to be doing more crafting while they were gone, so they would end up returning having more high quality gear, which would likely appear more properly together than the mismatch of the off-white cloth with the brown and grey armour.

"Also, cut today a few hours short. I'd like to try and have a chance with the new materials before nightfall, and check on our readiness for the dungeon tomorrow with the comparison of everyone's gear change. You'll be able to find me at the NPC crafting station on the other end of this small town."

With full understanding, everyone stood up, and made their way outside together. They stopped at the NPC crafting stall, where Ana was allowed to quickly learn and forge together a high quality basic pickaxe. It would be more than enough to gather materials for at least a few floors through the game. With the new pickaxe, and everything else ready, Ana was left behind to finally work on her leather crafting, which went along very well. She continued for a while, and other players would stop by when they would notice she wasn't an NPC. There were a lot of questions about how good her crafts were, and when the consensus was understood that the clothing she had on sale was so much better than the basic gear, the players were eager to pay. In exchange, if they didn't have the currency requested for the clothing, she offered they pay with materials, which she immediately put to work with her crafting. Flawlessly, she continued producing high quality gear. Leather armour sets, a new weapon for each of the team instead of using the metal on armour since it was still early for the armour with the little amount of metal material she had.

When the team returned, high in spirits, they delivered the materials and received their new equipment. Asuna was thrilled to finally have a proper rapier, while Kirito Leafa and Sinon were all much more comfortable with their weapons. Even to just remove the basic metal armour, the new leather armour provided more defence overall. The off-white and light brown of the leather went along well together, which made them happier than they expected to be. Each of them had their own slightly different design as well, suiting to the differences in the body type of each.

Before Ana finished with her crafting, a call reached to Kirito's account. On the other end, was apparently Ryra, but when she accepted the conversation for video viewing as well, hidden inside the NPC forge, Kirito saw Leafa's mother. Tears leapt to her eyes, and she quickly sent a text window to Leafa to bring Sinon into the forge because all three of them needed to talk to the person on the other end of the call. Leafa cried relentlessly when she saw her mother on the other end, Sinon finally cheered up a little more, and Kirito continued to show her feminine side.

"How is everything going on your end?"

Even Kirigaya-san cried from her end. Seeing the people in the same room she was in, moving on the other side of the tablet conversation she was having, struck her heart in a way that she had never expected. She couldn't believe how happy she was made, just to see that they were safe and doing well on the other side.

"We're doing great, Mom."

Leafa managed to finally respond after pulling herself together. She laughed a little after saying those words.

"We're really doing great. It's mostly because of Ana-san."

The warm smile from the mother on the other end truly warmed them.

"It's so relieving to hear those words. Ryra-sensei has explained how difficult it has been so far, for the other contributors to try and get everyone safely out of there. Maybe it will fall on you and Ana-san to find the way out of that game you're stuck in. Just how is that going, by the way?"

Kirito started with that explanation.

"Well, the person who trapped us here, Kayaba Akihiko, told everyone that our requirements for getting out is clearing the game...and we're not even done the first floor out of the hundred floors that we would need to clear. Ana-san might have us ready to challenge the boss monster soon, but it's still very dangerous. She's making sure we're prepared as much as possible before trying to make any more distance. Ana-san is incredible by the way! She's doing all of this while being blind!"

Kirito was even more enthusiastic about their chances, telling her aunt about the chances they have with Ana there.

"Ana-san really is incredible. She managed to help you find your personality again. I'm so happy you've finally managed to smile again. I look forward to the chance of meeting her soon. I have to thank her for taking care of all of you."

She looked toward Sinon through the window, and she smiled again.

"You look so much more lively too, Shino-chan. I'm so happy you're doing better too. I'm a little sad that you're probably decided on returning home to your family after this, but you'll always be welcome in our home. I consider you my daughter as well, so be sure to take care of Kazu-chan and Sugu-chan. Don't push yourselves too hard either. Try and enjoy your time there too, and have lots of fun stories to tell me about your time in there for when you get out."

The tears continued to stream down everyone's faces. Kirito took a deep breath, closed her eyes and managed to calm herself down enough to find the courage to reveal her decision to all three who could hear her.

"I...I've decided to really become a girl. This experience has helped me realize how much easier it is to just accept what life was steering me to. I've always been growing more and more feminine, so now I'm accepting it instead of denying it. Ana's also helping me with it, and same with Asuna-chan. They're both amazing, and we all like cooking. They're only making it easier and easier to make the decision."

Ryra's voice chimed in, and her face peeked into the screen from the right side.

"So, are you consenting then to having surgery? Wake up from there with the consistent feeling and measurements to feel on that side? I also have been prepared in performing the surgery which made Ana capable of becoming a mother, so I could perform that far for you. Add some hormone therapy medicines to your IVs and you'll be completely female, completely ready for normal life. Well, so long as the challenge is completed soon. There's still likely to be some rehabilitation time for nearly everyone since if it takes any more than a month on your end to make it out, you'll need to work on regaining strength and control of your movement capability. It sounds to me that even with Ana's ridiculous ability, it'll take at least a year. She's cautious in the best sense after all, so you'd better believe she would have a raid party ready for a no death run of the boss monsters. Kirito and Sinon being fans of our work in that other game should be assurance enough of the no-death runs."

Kirito smiled, and the tears on both ends of the call finally came to an end.

Kirito nodded her head, the brightest smile she'd ever made on her face before she said her response to Ryra's suggestion for the surgery.

"Yes, Ryra-sensei. Please let me be a girl when I return home."

Leafa and Sinon were both in shock, from the time that Kirito mentioned the intent to be a girl, still to that moment when Kirito accepted Ryra's offer to perform the surgery which would make the difference in real life.

Ryra and Suguha's mother were both smiling, happy with the result of the answer.

"Kazu-chan...how do you feel about me fully adopting you to our family? Become Sugu-chan's elder sister? I can also work on that for when you come home from there. Uncle and myself have been ready for a while to adopt you if the topic ever came up, and since right now other heavy topics are being answered, I have the feeling to ask you this as well."

Kirito nodded her head right away to that question as well. Tears streamed back down her face again. She breathed raggedly, exhausted from all of the emotions going through her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, calmed herself down and nodded her head again.

"Yes, Mom."

Those two words alone finally snapped Leafa and Sinon out of their shock from the topic before. They were more supportive of Kirito having legal parents again, not just guardians from the same family. They were still uneasy about accepting Kirito's decision to be a girl, but it was Kirito's decision alone.

A text window appeared in front of Kirito, Leafa and Sinon, telling them that their new armour pieces and weapons were also ready. They even had some accessories to fill the rest of their equipment.

With the notification, Sinon asked one final question.

"Ana's called us to try our new weapons and armour. Uhm, Ryra-sensei...have you heard when my family will be able to call?"

Ryra smiled yet again, nodding her head before answering.

"Your mother and brother will be here on Saturday. Your father is too busy at his work to make it that day, but he promises to visit as soon as he can. In case you've already forgotten which day it is from that end, that means your mother and brother will be here in three days."

With the reassurance, Sinon took a deep, very calmed breath, and she smiled.

"Thank you, Ryra-sensei."

The three in the game waved their farewell and closed the call from their end, only to return to Ana and be presented with light metal dresses. Apparently, Ana was a blind artist. The armour was completely beautiful. Overall, their defence alone was more than ten times stronger with the high quality full armour set. With their weapons, they would deal twice as much damage, possibly more depending on how well everyone adjusted to their weapons. Ana smiled, and confidently put up another window for everyone.

"Tomorrow, another run through the dungeon. We'll map to the boss room. We won't challenge the boss though. Just take a look through the door if the system will allow us a peek at the situation on the other side of the door."


	11. Chapter 11

~Past and the Boss Door~

After receiving their new gear, the group started setting their relaxation gear to one of their quick selecting settings. So that they could go straight to or from their main armour and their down time gear. The down time gear, was essentially dresses. They were still more protective as just the dresses and light other clothing, everything matching and appearing like an outfit for a large formal event, than the starting gear by far. They just weren't the ridiculously powerful crafted armour that they would wear when heading out for more challenging aspects of their adventures in Aincrad.

Set with their new gear, they had their dinner, and went to bed early that night. Well, all but Kirito went to bed early that night. Kirito wanted to relax and feel what the night atmosphere of Aincrad might feel like. Out in the town, she took in deep calming breaths, looked up at the disorienting sky above, stars littering the bottom of the next floor as if a proper night sky, the dark blue between those stars, as if reflecting light from moonlit water. As much as they had explored the floor, there was no large bodies of water, so that didn't make sense, and otherwise, there was no source of light aside the miniscule lights of the stars to fill the sky.

Kirito was drifting in a dreamland nearly with the fantasy of the environment she was in. So far, she had been only treating Aincrad as a game. It was still a game, but it was also a world where a lot of time and effort were put into making it. It was a wondrous place where things could operate like in the real world, and everyone needed to take everything seriously. Because of the seriousness of the situation, Kirito often forgot the situation outside. Kazuto had been a boy on the outside of the game. She had thought it was the feminine parts of her which were wrong for the longest time because of how the people around her treated such a thing. She thought it was wrong to enjoy the light feeling and the comfortable aspects of just being herself.

Kazuto had been raised primarily by her mother through her youth. She learned nearly everything about housekeeping, everything her mother could teach about cooking and secret recipes of the family, and Kazuto even grew out her hair because she was more comfortable being similar to her mother than her father. Her father was rare around because of his work. He would leave early in the mornings, and the times he would be home, he would almost always start a conversation with pushing for Kazuto to be more masculine. To cut her hair. To focus more on her archery and kendo. To leave the housekeeping and cooking to her mother. Kazuto didn't listen to it...though there was always some sort of voice in her telling her it was the way it was supposed to be. She was supposed to follow the rules like her father enforced, and become normal and uncomfortable like everyone else.

Kazuto had grown up in a nice, quiet neighbourhood. She lived across the street from the Asada family, with her best friend Shino, her little brother Shiro, and their parents. Often while growing up, Shiro or Shino would get sick, and Kazuto would take care of them. Shino wasn't nearly as well learned in housekeeping or cooking, so Kazuto taught her when Shiro was sick. Shino was at least better than her mother at the housekeeping and cooking with Kazuto's help. Shino's mother was a very anxious person. Kazuto had discovered this not long after meeting her for the first time. While she was fine if there were no obligations for some things, she would often forget herself with ingredients or steps in cooking. Or she would have such a difficult time with her scheduling of work and home, that often it was a mess at home.

Kazuto had been over to their home plenty, and with her help in making food, teaching Shino how to cook enough she could get by and help, as well as cleaning the house, it wasn't so bad. The visits had become less frequent the older they grew, but Kazuto still had plenty of time at their home.

In their younger years together, Kazuto's time at Shino's home, was largely spent playing with her toys, or they would exchange clothes with each other and act as if they were the other. Kazuto knew back then that she really liked the feeling of wearing girls clothing. It felt just right in comparison to the boys clothing. She hadn't once worn female clothing outside of her time with Shino in her home though. She had started archery as soon as she was old enough, and kendo followed shortly after. Shino followed in the path, taking archery and kendo as well. Kendo, they shared with Suguha. Suguha had always called Kazuto her onii-chan, which was fine since she didn't have any siblings. Kazuto didn't have siblings either, though she did sort of consider Shino and Shiro somewhat like siblings. Kazuto was more conscious of the male parts of her when she was around Suguha though with her consistency in referring to Kazuto as male. Suguha had seemed to long put Kazuto on some kind of pedestal for what she aimed for in one way or another. Kazuto hadn't understood for a long time. Not until understanding came to a certain point, and she was able to piece together the seemingly normal relationship as something less than normal.

Kazuto knew that Suguha had romantic feelings for her. At least, that became more apparent with Suguha's frustrations and the way she had been emotionally through Kazuto's state of most calm. When Kazuto had been moved in with Suguha's family, Shino followed because Shino needed Kazuto as a strong anchor to help her keep herself together after the tragedies that occurred in their lives. Shino and Kazuto always being around Suguha, left a very easily spotted sign that she was intent on supporting Kazuto herself. Kazuto also knew she had feelings that didn't end up developing much for Shino. Her and Shino were of course so close that there was a part of her that felt it might be most natural to be with her, but she didn't know how Shino felt anymore with how withdrawn she stayed no matter how much they were together. Perhaps something needed to change with Shino's situation.

Kirito sighed, and sat down on a bench outside of the inn they were all staying at, and she finally stopped staring up at the sky. She closed her eyes, and started humming to herself. She sometimes hummed since her voice didn't deliver singing as well, and did so often when Shino or Shiro were sick, humming them to sleep. She really enjoyed the feeling of her chest loosening up from the vibration of her humming.

After finishing one of her favourite tunes to hum, she opened her eyes, and saw a few older men staring at her from one of the planters in the middle of the road. Kirito felt flush before she stood up and turned to head back into the inn.

"Hey, you and your singing were really great."

Kirito stopped enough to hear that comment to her singing. She turned her head enough to see that those people had stood up and were closing in on her. She reached out and was about to open the door to the inn, but she could feel a hand press down on each of her shoulders. They were very heavy hands. She knew well from her training in kendo there were multiple ways to handle getting out of her current situation. She felt a chill running through her though, and her nerves were working against her at the moment.

She had a notification show up for harassment, asking her if the people touching her were going too far. When her instincts immediately told her to touch it, she touched the option and felt their hands disappear from her shoulders. She turned around, and those people were gone. She could remember feeling terrified when she saw the faces of those people who were even older than Ana. Those people in their thirties who were intending something she was terrified of still sent chills down her spine. She dropped to her knees and felt tears spring to her eyes. In her mind, she was reminded of how she had first seen Ana. Of course, it was unlikely the same cause for her to end up in that position, but she couldn't help thinking of it.

She went back to the bench, and she cried like that, curled up and holding herself to her knees as if to protect herself from her surroundings. The night in Aincrad felt so much colder somehow as she trembled there on the bench.

The sound of the door to the inn opening caught her attention, but she continued to hold herself closed off that way. It wasn't long before a very familiar voice was alerted to Kirito sitting there, seeing Kirito in such a state.

"Kirito, what are you doing out here this late at night?!"

Her sweet and concerned voice, the rich feeling of her presence closed in on her and she sat beside her. Kirito didn't have the courage to face her while she was still crying and shaken so much from something she was able to easily shake off as far as the immediate trouble before.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Kirito sobbed heavily before finally taking a deep breath and looking to the person beside her. She wasn't surprised to see Asuna's worried expression looking toward her with a heavy concern on her face. Kirito couldn't bring herself to tell Asuna about the experience she just had. It wasn't even that bad, and she had reached a point she cried so heavily it could be compared to the loss she experienced in her past.

Kirito realized at that thought, that maybe it was the case that maybe she was finally letting it all out. Kirito didn't cry much. She had cried heavily once over the tragedy, and Suguha had held her through it, but Kirito realized in the current situation, she was still not through her emotions from what had happened. Every day, she thought about returning to her mother at home, cooking meals together. Doing anything together. Telling her about things she hadn't told her happened in her life.

Eventually, Kirito pulled herself together enough to answer Asuna. She looked at her, and her heart ached at the thought of explaining to Asuna what was happening with her.

"I...well...I was...I was getting some air...I sang a little...some older guys approached me...I was...terrified..."

Asuna went wide-eyed with surprise at what she was hearing Kirito just went through. She could understand easily how difficult that must have been for Kirito from her perspective as a girl. She knew from the ability to understand Kirito's reaction, that she was definitely still scared from the situation even if the men were gone.

"I was...mostly okay...I touched the yes option on if they were harassing me, and they were gone. The reason...I'm still crying...is because I..."

Kirito paused again, her crying returning heavy in her chest. Asuna was still very concerned for Kirito. She was about to reach out to her and start consoling her. A thought hit her that Kirito had been a boy, but she shook her head and reached out an arm around Kirito's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"I...! I miss my parents...! I...I guess I haven't...gotten through my feelings yet...about losing them..."

Asuna continued to hold Kirito in the hug. She could feel how much Kirito was effected by the emotions she was going through. Asuna's heart raced, for many reasons she realized. She could tell she was developing strong feelings for Kirito. She could nearly feel Kirito's pain and emotions from their contact. She could feel the warmth trickling to her barely through the loose connections of the virtual system which impressively brought them together. More, she knew that they were in the same place in real life. They weren't far from each other, and that made her heart race even more.

"It's okay, Kirito. I'll be here for you as much as you'll accept me."

Asuna felt her heart throb with each word which escaped her lips. She sighed and loosened her hold on Kirito. Kirito took the loosened grip to return the embrace. The two sighed in the relief of being able to share the moment of comfort.

Asuna didn't want to let go, but when eventually Kirito let go, she followed the lead, and she continued to watch Kirito as Kirito stood up.

"Thank you, Asuna. I didn't realize...how much I needed that. You're...such a wonderful person. You even have the full support of Ana and Ryra-sensei. Sometimes I think, maybe I'm not worthy of being in our group because of how amazing everyone else works together. I'm just..."

Asuna shook her head during the small break Kirito had in her words.

"Kirito is very important in our group. I've easily been able to tell how much Ana relies on you. You risk yourself to give her the chance to learn how the monsters move, then we're completely safe. You also are so fast and strong. I've been so scared about trying to get into the battles, but you get right in there and handle those battles so well. You even learn so quickly from Ana's examples. You're incredible."

Asuna assured that Kirito was important, and she was feeling temptation and more words ready to burst forth, telling Kirito how she felt about her. She stopped herself though. It would be better to hold onto words like that until they knew each other longer. They hadn't even known each other for a week. She didn't even know if her feelings would endure or grow for Kirito.

Kirito faced her and a happy expression filled her face, more tears flowing down.

"If you keep being so kind to me, I might just become even more like Ana-san. Asuna...again, thank you so much. I need to remind myself sometimes, that I'm not playing a single player game. That I'm with real people. That I'm not alone. That...no matter how much I fall behind, it's possible to catch up. That...things I feel here are just as real as they would be without being in Aincrad. Please...tell me what I can do to repay you for helping me through this."

Asuna's emotions let the words slip before her mind had fully processed the words Kirito had said. She was confused, hearing her voice despite not putting the words together.

"You can be honest to me. About anything. Because I'm in love with you."

Kirito and Asuna stared at each other, the weight of Asuna's words telling them just how serious the development was between them. Asuna told Kirito her feelings without intention, just the words falling from her mouth like a reaction, like an instinct she had no control over. Kirito was overwhelmed by the words. However, Kirito closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then focused on Asuna with all her might before giving her response.

"I love you too, Asuna. If you are really okay with me, let's continue supporting each other from now forward."

The honest smile on Kirito's face, the pure emotions they both expressed for each other, brought them close together again. They didn't hug. They simply stared for seconds as the time passed by, until the tension between them broke, and their faces drifted close enough for their lips to connect. They didn't pull apart until they needed air to breathe. Their eyes were so close to each other, they could see the smallest, amazing details.

The two didn't progress any further than their kiss however, before they decided they should try and sleep through the rest of the night so they wouldn't be too tired for their already decided activities the next morning. They wanted to continue, but holding up the time until they could really hold each other was something they couldn't bear.

The morning after what happened the night before, they couldn't hide the development between them. The excitement to be back together. They were up before everyone but Ana, and insisted to help her prepare breakfast. Ana informed them of their lack of ability to hide what their relationship had become while they helped her with making the breakfast and lunch. Kirito and Asuna were more shy and a slight bit distant after Ana exposed them. She did reenforce her words to them by saying she wouldn't tell the others before Kirito and Asuna. It was up to them whether they were going to try and hide it for the time being, or if they would let everyone know the circumstances between them.

After Ana told them how she would handle the situation between them, Kirito and Asuna had decided that it would be better to lay it out and everyone should know, or they wouldn't be able to cooperate at their full capacity as a team.

After breakfast, before heading out, Kirito and Asuna stood up first, and they assured each other were ready before telling the news. Both Leafa and Sinon were shocked to hear of the development between them. Both were also devastated. Ana knew how Leafa and Sinon felt about Kirito. They were simply too nervous to act on their feelings for too long, and outside of the game, they were students together. Hearing the day before that Kirito had decided to live life as female was already a hit to them. Hearing that morning that even with Kirito choosing to be female, Asuna had begun a relationship with her was something that made it even more difficult on them.

"Let's cancel today's plans. Leafa and Sinon are clearly not of sound mind or emotion to handle going into the dungeon and the amount of danger we would face there, even with the upgrades to our equipment. For today, I will see to gathering materials and ingredients so that we will be ready for the next few days as far as food and so that I might be ready to provide equipment to others we might need to take along for the boss battle. If anyone would like to go with me and help collect the materials and ingredients, I will welcome it. Otherwise, it's your choice on how you use today."

With those words said, Ana took all of the dishes from the table, brought them to the kitchen, and a minute later, she exited the inn while the rest of the group stayed at the table. Sinon couldn't emotionally handle looking at Kirito anymore, so she got up and left the table, sending a message to Ana that she wanted to go with her and to party up so she would be able to find her. Leafa followed her, having a feeling that they were on the same wavelength as far as what had happened between them all.

Kirito and Asuna felt guilty about Ana's changing the plans because of what happened with Leafa and Sinon, so they decided to go and do their own gathering, and make up for it by making dinner between the two of them for everyone.

Ana had a feeling that she would end up playing psychotherapist for Leafa and Sinon while they would be together on their gathering, so she intended to only take them to more quiet places for gathering plenty of materials. There was little levelling, little effort, and less talking. Leafa and Sinon only talked when they were telling each other of where materials were they hadn't picked up, or if a monster was close and they asked Ana if they should fight it.

After a while, she decided to take them to an area with more monsters, when she would have them do some more fighting alongside her, defeating some of the easier small scale boss battles of the fields. Eventually, she even took them into the dungeon regardless of her having mentioned them not going into the dungeon. She was testing how well those two would work together with her.

Leafa and Sinon worked very well together, despite the rivalry they seemed to have at times, as if they were trying to output more damage than the other. That rivalry showed how well they worked together, and it also showed how well they could work with Ana. It was much safer than it had been before with entering the dungeon, and they would need to take a break sooner or later, so Ana had them stop in a safe zone within the dungeon before pressing in deeper. Then, she finally received some kind of talk from them.

"Did you know? About Kirito and Asuna?"

Ana sighed, and sent them their usual text box response within a few seconds of being asked.

"They only started their relationship last night. I imagine it would have mostly to do with Asuna pulling together her courage and determination to let out her feelings for Kirito, or possibly that the words slipped out when she only wanted to comfort Kirito. Last night I was awakened by Ryra because she wanted me to check on Kirito. Kirito was having some heart rate irregularities Ryra hadn't seen from Kirito yet. The first was from fear, Ryra suspected. The second irregularity was from trying to calm herself, but Kirito ended up with more of a heavy heart, possibly from some kind of leading in trigger. After that, I witnessed the last of the irregularities. I'm still unsure if it was courage on Asuna's part or if it slipped out, but she had been the first to confess her feelings to Kirito. Kirito responded to those feelings in acceptance and, well now they are in a romantic relationship. I told them this morning while they were flirting between making breakfast and lunch that they should consider their impact on the two of you before bringing it up. While I agree with their sentiment on it being better to let you know sooner rather than later, I imagine at this point in time you are both unhappy with the relationship those two have right now. You aren't very good at hiding your feelings, after all. Which might be more surprising for you Sinon, since you have been very withdrawn much of the time we as a group have spent together."

Leafa and Sinon both looked down to their hands as they fidgeted after hearing that Asuna had initiated it. Asuna had made peace with Kirito being a girl, and been content with the idea of the relationship, while they were still shocked and had years of time with Kirito and still hadn't made up their minds. They couldn't cast blame on either of them. Kirito had grown up with them, and possibly even saw them more as sisters to her than potential love interests. Asuna, whether she had intended it or not, didn't let her connection with Kirito become simply a friend or another sister-like presence in her life. It hurt, but they had to admit that it was a bold and strong move from Asuna to be able to confront her feelings and commit to the relationship regardless at this point.

Leafa and Sinon were still upset about it however. No matter how much they respected Asuna for her strength and how it might have come about, they had their own feelings for Kirito, and it was disappointing that they had robbed themselves of the opportunity to tell Kirito about those feelings without interrupting a relationship. As teenagers, Ana could tell there was some desire in them to try and ruin the relationship and take Asuna's lead in confessing their feelings to Kirito.

"How does Ana-san feel about their relationship?"

"As long as they continue to seriously work on progressing through the game together with us, there is no issue. For today, I cancelled the regular training together for your sakes. If I didn't, it would very likely have been much more difficult to work together. You need to sort through your feelings about this, and consider the importance of us all getting out of this game before intruding on their relationship. If they can't maintain their relationship within the game outside of circumstances of our team, then that's on them. I suggest against developing relationships within here, but a true connection will develop regardless of environment. Just be careful, please."

Leafa and Sinon nodded their heads, accepting Ana's words as a very clear lesson to them. They needed to keep to their priorities for the time being, not obsess or upset themselves over the connection happening right next to them. It was reassuring and a heavy reminder from Ana. They were trapped inside of a game. They wouldn't be able to get out unless they really worked toward that goal. As much as they were hurt by the relationship between Asuna and Kirito, getting out of the game was more important. To be with their families again, and to know that their life wasn't going to be on the line every day.

"Ana-san, have you ever done something...that you regret? That you had to do in order to save someone you care about?"

Ana nodded her head and her expression became dark before she answered.

"In Shibuya, not long after Ryra and I moved to Japan, there was an incident where Ryra and I were caught up with a gang who held their knives to her. Ryra and I made it out of the incident fine, but I had lost control of myself over my instinct to protect her. I had broken the wrists of all the gang members, and made it impossible for them to ever become parents. It's a horrible thing, what they did and what I did. I regret it, but I do not regret saving her and myself from what those people might have done to us. I remind myself every day though, that it's at least one gang that won't be able to go around and torment or hurt other people. I can't regret doing something that helps so many other people, regardless of the people I hurt. I might have even ruined their lives with how badly I injured their wrists alone. When you're caught up in something that you might regret, you have to remind yourself of the other people involved. The people besides yourself you save. The other potential people that you might have saved. This is all how I feel about what I did in my past. For myself alone, I didn't have the strength or willpower to fight against the person I had been in a relationship with before Ryra when he hurt me. I regret more letting him hurt me, than hurting those people who were in the gang in Shibuya."

The weight of Ana's words were heavy. Sinon realized something as she thought about it. She hadn't thought about the bigger picture until then, the tragedy she had been mixed up in. She hadn't though much about the other effects her involvement had on the situation back then. If she hadn't stopped that man, then not only her mother, any number of the other people in the bank could have been seriously injured or killed. It wasn't just herself she saved. Ana's words reminded her that it was okay to regret it a little, but the lives she saved were more important than the one life she had cut short.

Leafa looked at Sinon as she finally gained a little more life in her eyes. It wasn't just her interest in being involved with her favourite person in MMO gaming. It was finally having a bit of resolve about her past. Accepting what had happened as something that was a part of her past, and something that she didn't need to be ashamed of. Leafa still didn't know the whole of the situation with Sinon, but she wasn't ready to pry.

Ana readied herself, and started setting out from the safe zone deeper into the dungeon. Leafa and Sinon took the hint and continued to follow her. Sinon, with her priorities aligned more properly, mentioned something more to Ana.

"I...killed someone. You reminded me though. I'm not the only person I saved back then. Thank you, Ana-san. Thank you as well, Leafa. You and Kirito have been supporting me this whole time. I want to become stronger. Not just to be strong. To continue helping and protecting everyone important to me."

Leafa smiled and nodded her head.

"Sinon is already very strong though. You've been in archery as long as Kirito, and you're both stronger than me. I need to catch up, if anything. It's so good. That you're finally talking again. Now, if only Kirito would...well, maybe Asuna is working on that."

The two laughed softly, a little regret in that they couldn't do anything now about the relationship between Kirito and Asuna. They sighed, and continued on with Ana through the dungeon. They didn't have any issues, as long as they avoided mid bosses through the dungeon. Eventually, they arrived at the boss room door. A massive door with a very different design to the other doors of the dungeon. Ana approached it, and pushed the door open enough for them to see inside. She didn't step forward at all after taking her look inside. She still didn't use her eyes. Her advanced senses which were working overtime were able to pick out in examining, that the boss was a larger, bulkier, and stronger version of the dungeon guard kobold, with a secondary weapon. She assumed that from the examination, the boss would use the secondary weapon instead at the enraged state at a fifth health, becoming unarmed like the other kobold boss monster in front of the dungeon.

There were at least a dozen other kobolds in the room, and they had about the same stats as the rest of the dungeon monsters. After observing the room enough with her advanced senses, Ana turned around and Sinon and Leafa dropped their build up of tension from being face to face with such a dangerous situation on the other side of the door.

"How much more will we need to prepare for facing that battle, Ana-san?"

Ana sighed and replied one thing first before answering the question.

"Please drop the honorific. Just calling me Ana is more comfortable."

With a sigh, she began to answer.

"This battle is going to require the limit of the available players. Mostly to hold off the additional monsters of the room. The boss monster might be more intimidating with the secondary weapon than the unarmed version of the one outside of the dungeon, but it's also more predictable than unarmed, and slower. We might need one more person to balance out against the boss, and have a main and off tank team to switch between holding the boss aggro. I feel like myself and Kirito would be the leads of the main and off tanking respectively. So, tomorrow will be a recruitment day. I'll work on crafting gear for the other nineteen people we would be bringing to the fight, while everyone else will bring up the fight to other people. I want to personally understand any other people we would be fighting alongside for the battle, so...well, I'll outline it more and go over details after dinner. I assume Kirito and Asuna might have taken the chance today, to make dinner for us after we headed out for our material gathering. I should have enough materials to gear out at least fifteen people after today, so maybe a little more grinding for material tomorrow could be extended, but otherwise it may be time for challenging the first boss by Sunday."

Sinon was reminded of something at the mention of Sunday. It would truly be a week then that they would have been inside of the game, but it would also be a day after the call with Shiro and her mother. She was suddenly reminded of the bad note she had left off on with Shiro. She had left without a word along with Kirito. Before that, she and Kirito had both dumped him off in front of her home with his equipment and such, just because he teased a little too far about his intense supporting of them being in a relationship. She had wanted to apologize for hurting him then before, but after the incident, she didn't have the strength to speak.

Kirito didn't even see the tragedy with her parents. All of a sudden while she was training for kendo, she'd had a call from the police telling her that her parents had passed away in a traffic collision. By some coincidence or mess of fate, Shiro had seen the incident which killed Kirito's parents. Worse, Shiro had seen and known that those parents who had been like another set of parents to Shiro, were arguing inside of the car before the collision happened. Sinon knew all of that, but she simply didn't have the strength to face her family after what had happened before. She needed the stability of the never changing relationship she had with Kirito to keep moving at all. Because of that, nothing moved forward. Both her and Kirito were at a standstill on their emotions and their acceptance of what happened. Sinon had blamed herself for the situation before and believed she should have been punished for it. And Kirito had been stuck in disbelief that her mother she had cared about so much, and the father that was rarely home before, would never be there physically in her life again.

The tragedy, was that Kirito and Sinon had lost themselves within those days the world they knew fell down around them.

Ana could sense the atmosphere around her, and she safely steered them out of the dungeon and to the town without fighting another monster. Indeed, when they returned to the inn, Kirito and Asuna were waiting for them at the table of the inn, and started pulling the food out of their inventories that they had spent much time preparing. It was already common knowledge who in the group was fascinated with cooking. All three of those people had now served the food for the group.

"Sorry, Leafa and Sinon. We should have told you right away. You too Ana, even though you probably would have noticed before we would tell you anyway. Sorry we're being selfish. It's just..."

Ana shook her head, and Leafa and Sinon agreed with Ana's motion.

"There's no need to apologize. As long as your relationship doesn't distract you too much from our common goal of getting out of this game, there is nothing to concern yourself with as far as my opinion."

Leafa and Sinon nodded their heads in agreement. Kirito and Asuna were near in tears when they felt the acceptance of the rest of the team.

"Thank you. Now, let's really get ready for tomorrow."

After Kirito made motion for everyone to begin eating, everyone began. The dinner was delicious, everyone agreed. Ana learned a few new recipes from tasting their recipes within the game. Leafa and Sinon were reminded from a couple of the dishes of Kirito's cooking, and everyone enjoyed Asuna's fine touch on the food.

After the meal, Ana described what they would do with the next day, and everyone took note of the directions so that nothing would be missed the next day after the mess of the current day. The next day, they would recruit for the boss battle. After that, they would train the recruits. The next day, would be a personal day, so that Sinon's call with Shiro and her mother would not be interrupted, and so everyone could get any last bits of preparation as far as training or gear done. So that everyone would be ready completely for the boss battle on the Sunday.

With everything decided, everyone went to their own rooms, and anticipated the days to come, how busy and how pressured they would be to set the example for clearing the game.


	12. Chapter 12

~Prepare for Raid~

Kirito and Asuna took their recruitment to the Town of Beginnings, while Leafa and Sinon worked on their recruitment around the higher level area around the town when they were looking around for other players who seemed friendly or at least remotely possible for recruiting.

The goal of the recruitment, was to first get a look at the players in combat or gauge them from how they held themselves, then send them to Ana's coordinates in the town where she primarily worked on crafting. There, Ana unfortunately had to turn many of the people sent to her away. There were simply too many people who would require too much training, didn't have enough resolve to fight for their way out of the game, or there had just been people going to her, thinking of the amount of people going to her as an event.

Overall, the situation wasn't actually that bad. They only needed nineteen people. In total, it would be eight groups of three really as far as Ana's plan for splitting everyone. Eighteen of those people simply needed to have decent form in fighting. They didn't have to be impressive. Just determined and quick to learn. Eighteen people had been chosen, but the choice for who would fill the last position with the main and off-tanking was still empty. Ana needed to have someone who would mesh well with the five in the main group. So far, that person hadn't shown.

Gear was handed out with obligation reminders on them for the boss battle to the eighteen who were accepted, and people with those gear sets would be noticed by anyone, because they would have a **Raid** tag beside their name. Those people were quickly picked out and understood to need to be training for the raid coming up. Even people outside of the group would know that those people should be specifically training for the raid.

Ana stopped her crafting toil after two hours waiting for a good meshing person to show up. She couldn't simply rely on the recruitment from the others to miraculously find someone who would mesh well with the party. She had to go out and find that person herself.

Since she knew it hadn't been one of the searching areas, Ana went to the dungeon after telling the rest to no longer send recruits to her crafting location. Along the way to the dungeon, she checked players who were training against the monsters. There was nothing really impressive or noteworthy aside some of the people of the raid party training together to show their spirit for the boss battle ahead on Sunday. Ana was happy that the people that had been picked were taking the position seriously. The gear wasn't simply a gift to those people.

Ana continued along the way until she reached the entrance of the dungeon, and noticed a group of six about to head in. They were under levelled, under geared, and the tank player was trembling like one strong breeze might send her flying through the air. Ana jogged over, and sent the party a message box.

"I have some experience in the dungeon. You look like you could use a more experienced hand if you're aiming to level."

The tank in the lead stopped trembling as if she had read Ana's message saying she was willing to lead tank. It wasn't far off. An experienced person offering to help a lower levelled team would often lead, and in the current game, that would often mean playing the role of tank.

"Why don't you talk? And why are your eyes closed?"

Another of her message boxes.

"I'm mute and blind in real life. I have a skill unlocked that works nearly as well as my senses do in real life, so I'm perfectly fine to lead if you'd like me to tank and show you around. I'd feel better if I could alleviate some of your tank's anxiety."

It was too early to create a guild within the game, but Ana assumed that the people in front of her aimed to be a guild. She was more interested in the tank than the confident others. The tank had a feeling about her that she would be a good support player, and good with dishing out damage. Definitely not a tank in this kind of game environment.

The rest of the players looked to their tank after Ana mentioned her anxiety, and they sighed.

"We've been telling her to just think of it like the other games where she plays tank. Guess she's still not ready."

"Better to not push someone whose personality is more suited to support. She might have played tank in computer games, but I sense a support kind of role from her otherwise. I can teach plenty."

The leader role seemed to fall on the one confident voice who continued conversation with her, shooting down nearly all suggestions that she lead their party into the dungeon.

"Let me guess, one of those beta testers who won't play with anyone else?"

She sighed.

"If you count the five minutes I was logged into the beta test as myself being a beta tester, sure. Most beta testers are very unimpressive though. I'm building a raid party with promising players for taking on the boss of this floor. I have a good feeling of finding the last person to add from your party, but want to get a feel for how everyone follows the rhythm I can set. This person would be part of the main two teams I'm setting up for main and off tanking the boss, so they have to be very good at putting out plenty of damage and supporting a tank."

The leader felt ashamed labelling her as a beta tester when he read how much otherwise MMO experience she must have had from her words. He was also very tempted to show his ability so that he might be accepted as the last role in the raid group.

"Alright, let's add you to the party then. Lead on."

Ana nodded her head, and she accepted the party invite. She was a little puzzled that the game was allowing her to be in two parties at once. Then again, one party was a chat party, while the other was a battle party. It didn't make sense to not be able to have both.

With confidence, she led them into the dungeon, and she established aggro as smoothly as she would have with her own party. The party with her were staggered at the sight of how fast she moved while being blind. They took a little to realize they just needed to start dishing out damage to the enemies Ana was steadily controlling and not losing a point of health to. This continued on for a while. Group of monsters after another group, she quickly noticed the party levels jumping. They definitely weren't ready for the boss. Focus training one person would be fine, and the one person Ana had a good feeling about was fulfilling the expectations perfectly. She wasn't quite meeting the hopeful damage output, but she was reading Ana perfectly, and fitting into the battle and supporting her better than everyone else.

Ana sighed when she finished leading them to the earliest safe zone, and she turned back to them. She went over their levels again. Those people were so under levelled, they had jumped five levels during that time. It was utterly ridiculous, she thought. They were too under levelled. Not so much anymore after some levelling, but it was still distressing. She still had decided on picking the previous tank of the group, Sachi to join her team. The girl who had played so well as a support. Her damage was climbing the less she had to worry about taking damage. She had been so afraid when the situation dictated she be putting herself at the front of the damage, but she was the most determined to help a person who was at the front of damage. She was perfect for support and healing.

"You're all very quick learners, though you could definitely use a lot of practice. The use of skills, as far as I'm concerned, should be used for crucial situations your personal skill can't handle. Out of everyone, Sachi was the fastest to pick up, and she performed exactly what I was searching for when I approached your team. I would like to know Sachi's opinion on being offered a spot on my team. Since there was some sort of prejudice against it before, three other people on my team were part of the beta test, and they were more involved. However, they more earn their places on the team because of their personal skill from combat training outside of the game. Everyone can learn plenty. I can still learn plenty. We're all a very cohesive unit when working together, and Sachi is the only out of the dozens of players I met today who fits well into the feel of the party. This all had nothing to do with beta test players. Many of the beta test players have already left the game because of their misjudgements and acting too fast on the assumption from how the beta test worked. The biggest reason I chose Sachi, is because having another example alongside me who isn't recklessly charging about. The rest of your team needs to calm down a few notches and train like this is real life."

After Ana's long message was sent out, the players of the party stared at her, serious in their tone.

"How are we supposed to train without a tank?"

Ana shook her head and sighed.

"With the axe. You have much more a constitution for tanking. You'll need to learn and adjust to the idea of blocking and dodging, but you're the only person out of this group who is personality wise proper for tanking. Party leader, you were just behind Sachi in ability to support, so you would do well to practice this formation. Everyone else would learn to find their positioning and deal out as much damage as possible without taking the enmity from the tank. Support, learn how to use the utmost of your own physical abilities, and do one enemy at a time until you're more ready. Without my role here, I can tell very easily you were not ready at all, and wouldn't have lasted through the first pull. If you are serious about training, then return to the nearby town and I will provide some gear that could support your training. The gear I'm wearing alone is more defensive and offensive than your entire party as far as stats, and I can easily make you all the same level of gear."

The group seemed to take her words as law. As the best possible advice. Everyone except the leader. He seemed to be open to ideas, but he disliked the idea of Sachi leaving their team. After all, many MMO familiar players were familiar with a concept of a female player being valuable. Especially if they were recognized as good and valuable outside of gender since there was so much more of a male audience to the gaming community.

Ana knew that those people would have a vastly different idea of the demographic when they would find out that Ana's team was entirely female. Ana had everyone meeting up at where she normally set up for crafting in the town, and it didn't take long before everyone met up at the location. There, Kirito, Asuna, Leafa and Sinon were ready to greet the new member of the party. They knew about the rest of her previous team coming along, but they weren't expecting anything. The rest of the players from Sachi's team stared in surprise as Ana drew closer to the four girls waiting at the crafting station.

"So, you said it was Sachi who was joining us right? She must have been very skilled for you to choose her after denying dozens of people into our party."

Ana nodded her head and a general message window appeared above her head.

"I found a person who would support Kirito's reckless tanking very well. Off tank group will consist of Kirito, Asuna and Sachi. Main tank group will be myself, Leafa and Sinon. Leafa will provide my support and healing if healing is needed for myself. Sachi would provide the healing and support for Kirito. That is the plan."

Ana continued after sending that out to behind the crafting station, and she began setting up and preparing the new gear for the rest of Sachi's group first before preparing Sachi's new gear. The massive difference on the other players gave them a sense of Sachi being completely taken by Ana's team. There was no room for complaint though with the thorough coaching Ana had provided them, the gear, and the indisputable fact that she had saved the group from marching to their deaths inside of the dungeon before.

They didn't have the courage to go into the dungeon without her masterful control through her tanking leading them. That was about the only down side to her no longer training them directly. It might be a better idea, she thought, to train them further and teach them instead of an equal amount of other players, so that she could rely on their knowledge and ability in battle as it would grow. So far though, it was too much a skill jump for them in comparison to the other people she had allowed into the raid group.

"If you continue your training, it's very possible that you could end up leading your own raids on floor bosses safely later. For now, we need to be careful on this floor to figure out the skill requirements for fighting these bosses, so I've already settled on the people we will be concentrating on training for tomorrow and the next day. We will be raiding the boss room on Sunday, so you have some kind of idea on the kind of scale we're looking at as far as training time allotted."

The other party nodded their heads. Ana sighed, packing up her crafting sets after finishing explaining when everyone was in the max level floor one gear. She was exhausted. She was not a social person to begin with, and the amount of people she forced herself to communicate with through the day was beyond exhausting.

"Ah, Ana-san. One last thing. I'm guessing your group will have a guild name you will go by later when the feature is unlocked? If yes, then we should exchange that information now so we can keep in touch, guild to guild later. Help each other with info on rare floor monsters and such, maybe ask for backup on an enemy that's too much?"

Ana shrugged her shoulders and did a radius friend request exchange, where everyone from both of their groups would receive requests to add everyone as friends.

"Well, now that's done. Let's have some dinner and rest for the night. Tomorrow morning, mass training starts for the raid."

The other group, which the leader claimed he would name the Midnight Black Cats, were confused by the notion of such a healthy schedule. Eating scheduled meals? Sleeping at night? Sleeping at all in a video game seemed like such a strange thing to them.

"Is there any reason why you...do normal living in this game?"

Ana took a deep breath, and exhaled just as deeply as she typed out the entirety of the reply.

"My fiancee is a doctor. She was dealing with patients over the last month who had insomnia issues because they were playing the beta test and not sleeping properly at night. They had extreme exhaustion, dulling of their senses, and they would even have delusions or hallucinations. This would still occur within the game, unless we properly care for ourselves, even if it is just a game avatar. It wouldn't do any good to starve yourself in real life before a heavy exercise like a battle, so don't deprive yourself of the food energy before doing it here. Sleep properly as well, or you'll exhaust yourself. It's common sense. That idiot who trapped everyone in here explained it during his announcement on the first day. He made this world, to have people live out a life under his control. With consequences if you don't live life healthily."

With her explanation, the Midnight Black Cats nodded their heads in understanding. Ana's group already knew of this, and it was of course their reason for keeping healthy within the game. Plus of course keeping some normalcy in their daily lives so they could transition back to normal life as smoothly as possible.

Dinner went by quickly, and Sachi stayed with Ana's group, while the Midnight Black Cats went on to another inn to stay there together. Ana mentioned to them that if since the rest of the group were male, they could keep their party active and buy one inn room service for the night and all of them could use the one expanded room without issue.

Asuna, Kirito, Leafa, Sinon and even Sachi showed interest in this, as they looked at Ana as if she had been holding out on them for that information, but Sachi being new to the group, she didn't know that the group already knew of such thing. Ana had told them. They had simply forgotten since they didn't use the same room at all yet. The reason in the beginning for not using the same room, was because the agreement was to think of Kirito as male and not share a room between different genders, but that was no longer a valid reason to split the rooms. The only remaining reason, might be if Ana was still doing a massive amount of crafting at night or uncomfortable sharing a room with any other than Ryra. Now, she did her crafting during the day, so there was no need for her to craft at night. Their team of six total now would easily be able to occupy a single room and save plenty of money for other more valuable things later on. It had already been good fortune to be able to afford a room for each person every night to that point. Further good fortune for the fact that they still had plenty of money. Between selling gear Ana made to other players who were lucky on their money, the money drops from monsters which were easy prey to them, among other things made it very easy to accumulate a decent amount of funds. Other players wouldn't be able to believe with their average currency level that they had been sleeping comfortably every night.

There was one concern which rose in Leafa, Sinon and Ana's minds however for sharing one room among the six of them. Whether Kirito and Asuna had the self control to not progress on their relationship in the same room as everyone else. They could go ahead and do that in a room of their own together, but it was inappropriate with the rest of the team present. Especially having a new member among their group.

Uneventfully the night passed with the six in the same room, Ana, Kirito and Asuna rising early from their beds to prepare breakfast. Breakfast passed with Sachi's unrivalled excitement for having real tasting food two meals in a row. The starving until the need for bread being critical had apparently been a habit in her previous group. A very, very bad habit.

After the breakfast, Ana sent out a message to all with the raid tag on their gear to meet up outside of the town. Minutes later, all twenty four people of the raid group were present and ready to start their training...and one additional person whose very energy felt out of place. She wore a combat hakama, had a katana at her waist, and her entire figure seemed to flow nearly as smoothly as Ana, Asuna or Kirito. That person was confused by the large crowd of people. She walked around between them while everyone waited for Ana to bring the meeting into organization and start the lessons and training. That strange feeling person with the samurai like feel to her, and hair long to the waist in the same way as Asuna and Kirito, ended up approaching the lead group, only to ask what was happening with so many people around.

"We're going to be starting our training today for a raid on the dungeon shortly. Had you been someone I hadn't met with yesterday from the recruitment?"

The girl shook her head, and stared at Ana with a very curious energy about her. Everything about her was very animated. She was also very fast on her instincts and reflexes, Ana could notice from small details of how she simply moved a little or held her posture. However, she didn't feel as if she were really present within the death game of Sword Art Online.

"Can I take part in the training? I don't mind if there's already a full group for your raid party. I just want to check how interesting everyone is."

Ana nodded her head, and the girl name Yuuki joined Ana's party for the training. The rest of the raid group were split up and organized into sections of three, a judgement from Ana calculating how well the groups would fit together. After a few minutes, she was satisfied. From there, she set herself up as the training opponent for all of the groups. Yuuki was invited to take her position in working with Leafa and Sinon. The three of them took the lead in the training, Ana feeling somehow that Yuuki would provide a very good and accurate image of what she aimed the rest of the group to be able to compose like.

When Ana switched the party leadership over to Kirito and she left the party, she signalled the start of the fight between herself, Yuuki, Leafa and Sinon. Yuuki carved forward like she herself were an unsheathed blade striking out to kill. Ana was ready for any kind of threat level to emerge from Yuuki, but she was surprised at how fast Yuuki had been. Leafa and Sinon couldn't keep up with her and eventually it turned into a real duel somehow. Ana continued to dodge, sometimes parrying or outright blocking Yuuki's attacks. Yuuki was very good, but she was also as predictable as anyone else could be. She was a normal girl, who was very fast and strong. She was impressive, and she would do well with a faster team to back her up. Kirito and Asuna would actually be a better team for her if she were to take part in the raid.

Not once did Yuuki come too close to striking Ana, and Ana ended up disarming Yuuki with a final parry at the end of their fight.

"You're very talented at fighting. I'm very tempted to substitute in, but for the time being the rest of the group really needs to train."

Yuuki was smiling wide as she stared at Ana after losing the fight.

"Amazing! You're like a real life fighter! Better than a real life fighter! This is just a sim right? Or is everyone here actually playing this with me?"

Ana was confused by the way Yuuki worded how she said everything.

"This...isn't some sim. It's the VRMMO project Sword Art Online. Thousands of people are trapped in here and we need to beat the game to get out. Do you not know about this? Weren't you at the announcement five days ago?"

Yuuki seemed more confused than Ana when she asked Yuuki about her understanding of the situation. It seemed Yuuki really didn't know about the Sword Art Online incident.

"You...you're really blind, and you don't talk like everyone else because you're mute right? You're probably in the medical VR project patients like me too then?"

Yuuki's suggestion sent chills through Ana. Ana immediately made a call to Ryra. Ryra picked up on the other end immediately.

"I wasn't expecting you to call so soon. Good afternoon to you. How's your progress in there?"

"We were about to start training for fighting the boss of the first floor, and this person named Yuuki showed up. She mentioned being part of a medical VR project as a patient. Would you be able to check on that for me?"

Ryra nodded her head on the other side, and quickly gave an answer.

"Another of your old colleagues was one of my colleagues, and she had been trying to make a safer, full body enveloping and safe full dive machine. She had five patients using this machine. All of them should be experiencing basic VR games or other programs...just a minute."

Yuuki was even more confused with the conversation Ana and Ryra were having. When Ryra returned to the conversation the question was answered.

"Apparently her patient Yuuki isn't accessing a local game through the Medicuboid. Yuuki seems to have accessed Sword Art Online on her own, as the data is showing. Hey, are you sure it's her Ana? She's a critical level patient. If she's-"

"Is that a doctor Ana-san's calling? You sound like you're about to say I need to be careful because I'm a terminal patient. I'm perfectly fine in these places though."

Ryra stared harshly at Yuuki as she entered the view space of the conversation.

"Yuuki-chan, the programming for Sword Art Online uses a technology that still exists in your Medicuboid to make everything you do inside of Sword Art Online dangerous. If you're removed from your device, fail to meet healthy living in Sword Art Online, or die otherwise, you like hundreds of others would end up dying."

Yuuki realized when she heard those very serious words from Ryra that she really was in a dangerous situation. But only in the sense that she had to fight for her life alongside the other people playing Sword Art Online. She was very confident that if she and Ana worked together, they would be able to get out of the game without need to worry. Either way, she didn't have long. A few years at most. She was making the most out of it, and it sounded already like she would get a very real and fulfilling life inside of Sword Art Online.

"I'll be fine and take this serious, doctor. I'll help everyone get out of the game. With someone as strong as Ana here, no doubt it'll be easy. Have some faith!"

Yuuki left the view screen and went back over to Leafa and Sinon. Every person of the raid party stared at her as if there were something completely wrong with her. There was something very out of place with her. She was unlikely to have her own actual appearance like the rest of them. She was confident she was totally safe. Everyone had to agree on how good their odds felt with Ana around, but relying on the idea of one person out of thousands sounded ridiculous. Of course it would take more people. Ana was even taking the precaution of a full raid party for the first floor boss.

The call with Ryra was ended, and Yuuki was no longer the centre of attention. Ana had Kirito, Asuna and Sachi take over for showing the example she was aiming for from the beginning from the rest of the teams. Ana was easier able to give everyone else an idea of how much she was expecting from everyone else. It was slower and less deadly than Yuuki's fighting, but it was also much more understandable for everyone else.

"Ana-san, can we fight later? I want to see just how strong Ana-san really is."

Ana sighed and shook her head.

"Not like before. You didn't even wait for the duel request. If I had been a less skilled fighter and you fatally wounded me, I would be dead. You need to calm down. I understand being excited and aiming for fun in this, but the other people around you are fighting for their lives. I'm another person fighting for my life here. Now, so are you. No, I'm not a medicuboid patient. I am surprised Mai-san continued with the medical project though. That doctor from before is my fiancee. She is taking care of myself and many of Japan's youth who have been stuck inside of this game."

Ana took a deep breath and sighed again.

"We can fight, but at this point there wouldn't be much a point. Unless you were holding back before, there would be no comparison if you wanted to see my real capability. Seeing my real capability would be better seen from me fighting a boss monster within this game which I can go all out against."

Yuuki nodded her head in understanding, and she watched as Ana continued to train and teach the rest of the raid group. Yuuki wanted to test some of them too if they seemed strong, but she dropped it right away for the reasons Ana had mentioned, and because no matter how good the other people seemed, they just wouldn't be as satisfying to fight and beat as Ana.

Yuuki sent a friend request to Ana, and smiled.

"I'll do my best to catch up to Ana-san."

The two of them smiled at each other, and Ana wondered. While it seemed everyone was about ready for the boss monster battle, wouldn't it be interesting with a less scatter oriented boss fight to fight alongside Yuuki? She definitely felt it could be the case. Yuuki seemed as if the more she would fight against Ana, the more she would learn and be able to react to her movements. Yuuki was very excited to grow stronger from Ana. She was, however, determined to live a normal life for once, and she felt somehow that she would get it from being with Ana.

Yuuki was somewhat added to the team though not for the floor boss fight, and Saturday wasn't far off. Yuuki learned between lunch, dinner, and the team sharing the inn room at night, that everyone was very close in their group. She was reminded of the other patients of the medicuboid she had been playing with, and she sighed in disappointment. She wanted them to be able to experience such an amazing thing together with her. She could have her own team to compete with Ana's team. It would be amazing.

Night fell, and Yuuki was easily taken into their habits, falling asleep with them in the inn room.


	13. Chapter 13

~Family and Focus~

Saturday began with breakfast as usual, then shortly after breakfast ended, the call from Sinon's family arrived. The rest of the party, Ana, Asuna, Kirito, Leafa, Sachi and Yuuki left to gather with the others from the raid group and train some more. Sinon was hesitating to answer the call at the immediate sign of the call, but once she was alone and returned to an inn room of her own, she accepted the call.

On the other side of the call, she recognized her mother right away. She recognized Ryra walking to the side as she was also there for the call. However, the other person on the other side of the call didn't look much like she remembered Shiro. It had been a few years, but she hadn't expected the long and slightly wavy hair...the whole image Shiro had was almost as if he had followed up with Kazuto's old dressing habits. Shiro didn't look like a boy when she saw him.

"She's really there! Onee-chan, why do you have blue hair?"

Shiro's voice even sounded feminine. Shino became dizzy from the thought that Shiro might have become that much more like Kazuto. Was he going to tell her that he had decided to become a girl? She took a deep breath to calm herself, and shook her head while clearing her thoughts of the notion of Shiro becoming a little sister instead of being a little brother.

"The blue hair stuck. I had originally been using an avatar that really suited this shade of blue hair..."

Shiro smiled and nodded his head.

"It really suits you still, onee-chan! It's been so long since I've heard you. You sound so much more grown up. How is Kazunee-chan doing?"

Shino sighed and drooped her shoulders.

"Kazu is doing very good. Has Ryra-sensei told you or not about a big decision Kazu decided to make? If she hasn't then we should save that for you to find out when there's a chance to talk between you. Oh, at least I can tell you now that your effort back then went to waste, since Kazu is dating one of the girls we're teamed up with."

Shiro was surprised at first, hearing there was something big Kazuto had decided. Further surprise came when Shiro heard that Kazuto had started dating someone other than Shino. Shiro had still been hoping it seemed, that a relationship would happen between Shino and Kazuto.

"Why is Kazunee dating that other girl and not you?"

Shino shook her head and looked toward the other people on the other side of the call, hoping they would save her from Shiro's questioning. No saving arrived, as they were interested and happy just to hear Shino finally talking with some level of interest.

"Kazu is just too much like family after all this time. It felt too weird to try and date. Besides, it's weird for another reason to me. It's related to Kazu's big decision."

Finally a response from Ryra on the other side. She sighed and shook her head, not catching Shiro's attention, but Shino's mother noticed and she gave a questioning look. Shiro wasn't the only person who fully supported the idea of Shino dating Kazuto.

"We really should leave Kazuto's situation to the person to reveal."

Ryra was very careful with her wording. Of course, it was still too soon for the surgery to have been done on that side of life. At least, as far as Shino's knowledge. She imagined that Kazuto would have to take a few days away from battling at the very least while she would go through the surgery in real life. After all, while the brain doesn't effect the movements of the real body when full dive is experienced, the effects of the body were very possible to translate to the virtual body.

"Call Kazunee over so we can talk too! I want to see Sugunee too!"

Shiro's insistence to talk to the people he hadn't seen in so long was very strong. Shino sighed and as she started typing up a message to them, she looked between keystrokes at Shiro and she rose the one question which was still pestering her mind.

"Why are you all dressed up and acting like a girl? Did you choose to become a girl or something? Or are you just dressing up and acting like Kazu used to?"

Shiro swayed from side to side a little while hearing that question.

"Hmm...well, I'm not really girl, so not sure what you mean by that. I started dressing like this and taking classes to try and be like Kazunee used to when he would come over. Some of your old cute clothes still fit, so I wear them sometimes. I haven't been growing much, so I've been able to fit everything like Kazunee fit girl clothes."

Ryra seemed to be having a difficult time holding herself back from spilling the reveal of Kazuto's situation while Shiro and Shino talked about the subject.

Shino had sent the message to Kirito and Leafa in the game that her family wanted to see them, and had also received a reply they would head right back. Shino left the inn room door open for when they would arrive.

"There's no other reason you're wearing my old clothes and other girl clothes? I don't recognize the dress you're wearing."

Shiro laughed softly and twirled a little.

"Well, I guess it's okay to say. There's this guy from the high school section who's really cool, and we're going out."

Kirito and Leafa arrived in the room as Shiro was saying that he was going out with a boy from high school. Kirito and Leafa were surprised, but their surprise was minimal since they didn't recognize the voice they heard say that.

"He...does know you're a boy right?"

Shiro nodded his head and smiled wide.

"That's what he's into. Girly boys."

Hearing that, Kirito and Leafa were even more surprised and they closed the door of the room for the sake of privacy. They hurried over to fit into the view window from the other end.

"Ah! Kazunee! Sugunee! You also look so grown up! Kazunee really looks so pretty! Sugunee's choice in blond hair doesn't suit at all though."

Shiro was very opinionated. Kirito and Leafa were reminded of how mischievous the kid on the other end of the call had been in the past. At least he was only commenting on their appearances so far.

"So, what's this big decision Kazunee made? Ah! But tell me first about your girlfriend! And why didn't you date Onee-chan?!"

Shiro's words were a flurry of questions, with a somewhat cute sound but the same old annoying feeling to his voice.

"Shino is too much like a sister to date. And apparently I have another too much like a little sister."

Kirito paused there, sighing at the exhaustion of the very idea of talking about the heavy situation inside of the game.

"Asuna confessed her feelings to me, and she's wonderful. We both enjoy a lot of the same things, and the feelings are mutual. She's...kind of like a princess. She's cute sometimes, but at other times she's like a handsome prince. She felt more handsome when she confessed to me. We've been together since the evening of the first day, fighting together and learning more about each other."

Shiro seemed more and more satisfied with hearing about Asuna, almost as if he were imagining Asuna's confession to Kirito.

"And? And? The big decision you made?"

Shiro was satisfied with his imaginations of Asuna and pressed to hear the big decision which had been made. Kirito looked at Leafa and Sinon, and sighed when they stared back with the kind of look in their eyes that it was Kirito's responsibility to say it, not theirs.

"I...have decided to really be a girl. Even then, Asuna had feelings for me and confessed her feelings to me. I'm kind of still waiting for Ryra-sensei to tell me when my surgery is going to be, but otherwise, the game made me a girl so I really am completely comfortable here."

Shiro lost all composure and started shouting in excitement.

"Kazunee really is a nee-chan! I knew it! IknewitIknewitIknewit!"

Shiro was so happy, that he forgot that it was part of the reason why his actual sister couldn't pursue Kazuto.

He didn't care that much about it any more though. Shiro had always had a feeling Kazuto had really been that way and was possibly going to end up with a guy and not a girl. The question came to mind for Shiro.

"If you're becoming a girl, then wouldn't it be weird dating a girl? I mean, unless you don't plan to have a family together, it's just a romantic relationship right?"

Kirito gave a judging grin.

"Oh? I suppose you don't intend to have a family with your boyfriend then? There's always adoption. Or what Ryra-sensei and her fiancee are doing to have children. We aren't even thinking that far though. We've only just started dating. It'll be a while before we start becoming serious about something like that."

Shiro was flush red at the mention of his boyfriend. It made him more and more flush in embarrassment the more Kirito told him that there was nothing wrong with her relationship. Shiro wasn't entirely embarrassed though, as he shrugged it off and smiled.

"It's so nice that you're both talking again. You didn't even say bye before you left. I really missed you both, every day. I don't expect you to come back after all this, but it would be nice to see you in person again."

Shiro smiled in the same usual way he used to with them. When he was truly happy having them around. He went to the back after waving to them, and he was replaced at the front with his and Shino's mother. She smiled softly to show she was happy knowing at least that they were all alive. She had been surprised a little bit before with some of the topics which were brought up with Shiro, but she could only return to being happy that the two children who had left after the tragedy were alive, well, and better after the tragedies in their past.

"It's so nice that you're all doing well. I'd been keeping up with Suguha's parents every day or every other day ever since, and they were very concerned. I'm not sure how I feel about you getting better with being trapped in there, but I know I'm happier with seeing how you've grown and how you're doing right now. Shino-chan, you have become so strong. You might not have touched archery or kendo since you left home, but you still grew so strong despite that. You, Kazu-chan and Suguha-chan all have grown so beautiful. I know your mother would have been so proud of you and your decision Kazu-chan. What makes you happy and comfortable is most important. No matter what traditional types like your father would say or have said, your happiness is more important than being successful. Suguha-chan, I'm glad you seem happier than your parents said you seemed to be. I'm so proud of you for being strong. Ryra-sensei told me how you have been working with her fiancee toward getting out from your end. It must take so much strength and courage to move forward from that side with all the challenges that have been put there. Keep making us proud, and don't push yourself too much. We can wait as long as it takes for you to safely make it out of there."

After she said her piece, Shino's mother stepped back and attention was turned to Ryra. The three in the game looked at her, waiting for the answer to the question before, when Kirito's surgery was going to be.

"We need a good space of time where there won't be any training as far as Kazuto's surgery. You'll need at least two weeks worth of break, so I suggest waiting until later, or when there will be a good opportunity to substitute someone in for your space on the team you have going."

Leafa and Sinon looked at Kirito right away since one person came to mind who could fill the gap already. It would be better sooner rather than later as far as playing the catch up game as well, with levelling and learning mechanics the game introduces.

"How about after we do the boss battle tomorrow? Yuuki seems like she's eager to learn more from Ana-san, and it'll be easier to catch up."

The words came from Sinon. There was a pride on the other end of the conversation, happy with how Sinon was supporting the change Kirito intended to make. Perhaps their relationship wasn't so bad, Shiro thought. If she was persistent and the stability with Asuna didn't hold, Shino could take her chance with Kazuto if she grew more used to the idea of being together romantically. Shiro's thoughts could easily be seen through the video feed.

"That sounds like a great idea. Kazuto-chan, give me a call as soon as you're ready, and I'll get everything ready on this end. There will be no leaving the bed until I would call back after that, alright? It'll give you good, plenty of time to learn to pace yourself. You still have far too many heart irregularities, so this will be very good for you."

All in agreement, though Kazuto was a little restless when the call ended because of the statement she would have to stay in bed for two weeks...that sounded more like a punishment than the blessing that she would have her body comfortable when she would leave the game behind.

The communication was ended, and Sinon, Leafa and Kirito were confused about what to do next because of the difference in mood from what the plan was for the day. A message arrived through with Kirito to help with teaching from Ana, and all three of them checked, noticing they had multiple messages. Some messages asked when they were going to be done. Some asked if they were already done. Final question was if they could help with the training.

The final message from Ana wasn't the last of the messages from her though. She sent one more message to Kirito when the three started frantically making their way back to the training area.

"I'm having an anxiety attack, please hurry over as soon as possible and help!"

Kirito started sprinting as soon as she saw the contents of the last message. An anxiety attack? How was she having an anxiety attack in the game? She had anxiety issues? Such an amazing person having such a weakness?

What mattered was, when they arrived at the training area, was that Ana was on the ground. Everyone was surrounding her and Yuuki was staring at her with a horrified expression on her face. Asuna was crying for everyone to get back and give Ana space. Nobody moved though. As soon as Kirito, Leafa and Sinon grew close enough that everyone would hear them, Kirito shouted for everyone to back away from Ana.

"Everyone back off! Ana needs space, she's suffering an anxiety attack!"

It seemed Asuna didn't know about the anxiety attack part of it. Kirito drew even closer, and picked up Ana as soon as she reached her in a princess carry. Kirito hurried and turned around. Yuuki snapped out of her horror and hurried after the group as Kirito carried Ana away. Everyone from the main group hurried along with Ana. For them, the more important thing to be considered, was that Ana was in distress. No matter what, her safety was important to everyone. Sachi had been part of the crowd and having some anxiety of her own. When the pace of the situation picked up and she noticed Ana being carried away, she chased along after them as well.

They reached the inn after not long, and the full party was assigned to one inn room. Ana was placed on her own bed, and Kirito put a glass of juice from her inventory beside Ana's bed. Sachi sat down on her own bed and fell back on it. Her anxiety was also very rough. At least she hadn't been a focused centre of attention for the entire raid group.

One issue that Ana figured out for people with social anxiety, is that she wasn't safe within the idea of a raiding environment. She had been having a difficult time to that point handling her anxiety. She would much rather contribute safely as a crafter than put herself in the middle of those massive crowds of people. It was twenty people. At most, in real life, she was able to handle a few people. She had to usually slowly get used to people. She had been forcing herself so much from the beginning to fit in with the people around her who were also aiming to get out of the game. As consequence for the only inherent health issue of hers being ignored, she had a heavy anxiety attack which landed her in an inn bed.

"What happened Ana? Are you okay? Do you need us to do anything for you?"

Kirito was showing her concern and eagerness to help. Ana pushed herself to answer the question, whispering the words out.

"Yuuki...should take my place. Teach her, and let me rest."

Those words were like a force more terrifying than the idea of facing the floor boss.

"What do you mean?!"

Ana took a deep breath and sighed raggedly.

"Yuuki will team with Leafa and Sinon, and main tank. Take these recordings of how I moved fighting each type of kobold and have her study them while training today. She will main tank in my place. Kirito, you should keep the off tanking role. I won't be able to do the boss fight."

Ana's words were still very heavy for them. It was especially more heavy hearing them instead of seeing them in a text window in front of them.

"I have what's called here in Japan, red level social anxiety. In order to be around people, certain things have to be controlled. Such as being with a person I'm familiar with or have taken a long time to know. Only having at most three people around me. The familiarity of a person, would normally be to a point that I could nearly call them family. It hadn't been so bad back in high school, but it became worse with time. Even here, the anxiety nerves seem to be triggered by presence, especially with the sensation skills I've been levelling. It's still difficult to be around some of you. I've been pushing myself in that regard so much for the sake of getting out despite how much I've been working otherwise at preserving my normal of being blind and voiceless outside of the game. I will continue with crafting after I recover, but I cannot push myself so much anymore with raiding here."

Everyone was flustered by the news. Sachi had something to add to that herself.

"I...also have social anxiety. It's not as bad as Ana-san, but I become very shaky with so many people. I'm sorry, but I think I should...return to my other friends...maybe..."

Everyone other than Ana and Sachi were depressed. They all sat down on the beds beside Ana and Sachi, and they looked from one to the other, as if something might come to mind, something that might be able to keep their party together. Eventually, Yuuki said something to break the silence.

"I...I say we do this as Ana suggested. We just need to find one more person who fits well with us if Sachi is really decided on returning to her previous party, right? We can do that much, right? I'm ready to put in as much work as possible to catch up to Ana and fill her spot on the team. Besides, she can hold herself together enough when it's just us, or maybe it would even be fine regularly outside of things like raids to party up and learn from her or help her with gathering and such. This isn't some tragedy. We're in this game with so many people where any person can end up really capable, so we shouldn't get gloomy about one amazing person having to back off from the raids. We should be glad that she's still here with us right now, and didn't have her anxiety attack while main tanking the raid boss. Let's let her rest and tell everyone outside the new situation instead of wasting away our time like this. We're the lead group of the raid, aren't we? We have to show them we're ready to work our way out of the game."

Yuuki's words were powerful, reminding everyone just what the situation really was. Ana was simply one person. She might be the key to teaching a raid and dealing with it without losing anyone, but she was still alive, and she was still capable of leading them in ways other than being there physically in a raid. What was more important, was staying alive. That reminder struck everyone deep.

With that reminder, everyone agreed, and left Ana and Sachi in the room to rest. Sachi moved over to the bed next to Ana and she laid down, staring toward the ceiling of the room. Her vision was interrupted by a text box after a minute of laying there.

"I had been meaning to recommend you changing to the spear. You have a habit of stepping back often between your attacks. That isn't a good thing as a sword wielder. It is very good for a spear wielder. Otherwise, maybe a bow would be good for you, if you somehow unlock the skill tree for using it. I could craft you your bows since I already have crafting them unlocked. I still suggest you continue in a supporting role. Have a little more courage when you do face your friends again. Tell them you're too afraid to face the monsters head on if you are afraid. Tell them you'll support the tank when you're comfortable. I understand pulling away from the raids. Just...I noticed how well you got along with the others. You get along well with Kirito, Asuna, Leafa and Sinon. Yuuki, you are still getting used to, but you are fine with her. The issue is with having so many people around. I have a guess that perhaps it isn't social anxiety, but a combination of conversation anxiety and agoraphobia which fill your situation, because when you aren't directly talking to someone, you're fine. You were fine until you were in the crowd of the raid group. Agoraphobia is the fear of crowded places, or the fear of crowds in general. For you, it seems you just need to establish yourself a comfortable position where conversation isn't directed at you too much, and the group we were part of together, those people are ready to change themselves. I sensed resistance from the start with your other friends from before. Take care of yourself Sachi. I will help whenever and how I can, so just let me know."

Sachi sighed after reading it, and she turned her head to face Ana.

"No wonder everyone likes you so much. Again and again, you show how much you really care about other people. Even if you're the most vulnerable of us with your anxiety, you're the one who brought everyone together and you keep on reminding everyone what's important. You keep on teaching us so much, and not just about the game. Thank you, Ana-san. For everything. I hope to be able to help you with anything you might ask within this game. In fact...I said I thought of returning to my friends from outside the game, the Moonlight Black Cats, but I'm too afraid of returning to them. I'd much rather stay with you and help you with your crafting and gathering. Would you...allow me that?"

Ana nodded her head in response to Sachi's question. For the time being, everyone Ana had been in contact with within the game had a clear focus and goal in mind, and they were working toward it. Even Yuuki was working toward it, someone who joined the game late and had started unknowing and reckless of the situation. Ana could proudly think to herself, that she had cultivated and brought together a good, strong gathering of people. She only hoped that fortune and their skill would overcome their coming trials, for everyone's sake.


	14. Chapter 14

~Floor Boss~

The raid party was led by Kirito. Everyone was feeling a lot less confident in their chances without Ana being the leader. Even with Yuuki covering for her as main tank, having been trained a lot to understand the movements of the kobolds, nobody was feeling confident. Yuuki needed a lot of healing. While she was incredibly fast at pushing out damage, she was slower on the dodging and guarding aspects of battle, and kobolds were nearly as fast as some of the other people in the raid party.

Nobody was confident in the battle to come, but everyone was desperate to prove to themselves they could proceed without Ana's addition to the raid group. For her part, it should have been enough for them to use their high quality healing items she provided, and the high quality gear they all had equipped. Their low confidence was combated with one text window sent to the entire group from Ana as they reached the boss door of the dungeon.

"You don't need confidence to continue forward. Everyone is determined to make it through this experience alive, and that is all you need. Trust in each other. Take five minutes to calm yourselves before going through those doors. Breathe. Even though this virtual environment does not require breathing, it still grants us the peace we can achieve through breathing. Before going through those doors, do one calm final check of the inventories. Ensure everyone knows their roles in their individual parties of the raid. Ensure everyone is ready. At this point, don't think of this boss battle as one to rival the raids of the famous MMOs. Stand firm, follow the plans, and push forward. There is no reason to lose the battle with how equipped you are for this fight. There is no reason for even one person to lose their life today. Between your gear and your training, you are ready. Again, trust in your team, because they are your lifeline. Trust them, and remind them you are together. I can't be there, but that doesn't leave a hole in the group. I'm there with you in the strategy I gave you. In the gear you wield. In the lessons you've learned. A person is there, filling the place I would have stood. That person only needs grow, and this is the opportunity for her to grow. You are all one trained entity. You are ready."

The text window hung in front of everyone for a full minute before fading. Normally, a text box would be dealt with sooner. People would swipe a text window away. Close it and be done until another would show up. The one text window was all the raid group needed to steel themselves completely for the battle on the other side of the massive door. Following Kirito and Asuna's lead, everyone performed the calming breathing, checked over their inventories and strategy one final time, and they faced the door. Kirito and Asuna approached the door as the heads, and pushed it open, stepping right into the room. Everyone filed in, and kept to their individual teams until the door closed behind them. The monsters hadn't yet moved, the large circular battle arena not yet broached.

The teams standing on either side of the boss teams, were still uneasy about the fight. They didn't even have to deal with the boss monster. They knew that, yet they were nervous of facing the additional monsters. Their role was more to keep the additional monsters from engaging the main and off tanking teams for the boss itself. With that in mind, on a timer, everyone agreed to charge out at the same time. Nervous or not, everyone charged forward at the sound of the whistle Ana had made them to use for signal.

While Kirito Asuna and their additional party member, Jun from the Moonlight Black Cats equally charged to the boss monster with Yuuki Leafa and Sinon leaping in with their sonic leap volley. The volley of sonic leap skills ended with the boss monster only taking a fraction of damage to its health. This fraction of damage was not discouraging though, as Yuuki only decidedly cranked out as many heaps of chaining hits onto the boss monster. She dodged to the side when she felt the tell Ana taught her about, when and where it would swing its giant weapon at her. The crash of the weapon beside her, Leafa and Sinon getting enough time to move out of the way from the early movement Yuuki had made.

For Yuuki, she felt that the battle with the boss monster was going at a slower pace than she had been fearing from the descriptions Ana had given her with her lessons. This only made her more determined and confident in her ability to keep performing her role. She would only need switch with Kirito as tanking role when she would need to take momentary rest from pushing out damage.

As far as the other groups of the raid, they were organizing and focusing the additional monsters into two groups, one on each side of the boss, and dealing as much possible damage to them. Their role was quite easy compared to the tank and off tank roles against the boss. However, they had to be careful of possibility for more additional monsters to spawn in if they managed to kill off their additional monsters before the boss monster was downed. The danger was far less from the additional monsters, so the raid members dealing with them managed to relax and find some confidence in the situation. Everything was going well. It was going perfectly, actually. Ana's leading from outside of the raid was uncanny. Everyone had become well trained soldiers instead of simple gamers for the fight.

Finally, after only a fifth the first of the three health bars of the boss had been depleted, Kirito was switched in to main tank instead of Yuuki. As much as Yuuki had trained, and trained well, she still needed to learn how to pace herself. While Kirito needed to do that as well, she had been doing that training longer, and she understood the meaning of the pacing better. Because of real combat training in kendo and from the MMO gaming in her past. Because of these factors, Kirito was nearly switched to consideration of the rest of the raid party as the true main tank. Especially with the training in calming and measuring for dodges and blocking, Kirito was set.

The fight was actually meant to be easy. As the calculated battle progressed and the boss was diminished to half health, reaching the second phase of the fight, it tossed its main weapon, switching to the secondary, much faster weapon. This was within calculation, but not part of the main plan. It was assumed that the phase switch at the middle of the fight would only add some mechanics to look out for which would likely be area of effect in nature, raid wiping mechanics. This wasn't the case thankfully. The movement speed was still within what Kirito and Yuuki could handle of the speed of the monster.

What happened after reaching half through the third bar of health, was the surprisingly early enrage, the final phase. The boss threw its secondary weapon at the group who had done more damage to the additional monsters. This had been readied for, and on the whistle signal, that section of the raid moved as a solid unit toward the boss, easily dodging the attack by moving under it.

The final phase was the dreaded unarmed style of fighting. Ana had suggested that by that part of the fight, to have the armour of the kobold lord destroyed, so that as much damage could be done possible. Only a few pieces of armour remained, and those pieces of armour didn't slow down their relentless assault on the monster. Minutes passed, and the battle came to a close. The additional monsters which had remained still alive while being held away from the main two teams, dispersed as if they had been killed.

At the end of the battle, everyone had some sense of impending further battle, until a victory sound filled the room and a text window showed up in front of Kirito, who landed the last hit. The dropped loots from the boss included mostly materials and equipment for crafting, and then one black jacket. With a smile, she decided that everything should go to Ana. Without her contributions to the fight, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. She could probably even use the equipment as material for crafting something else. Possibly an even stronger jacket.

While everyone else celebrated the clearing of the first floor, the main teams including Yuuki, Leafa, Sinon, Asuna and Jun from the Moonlight Black Cats gathered around Kirito.

"So, should we head up to the next floor then? I suppose you intend to give everything to Ana-san?"

The words came from Jun. The rest of the group agreed on giving the drops to Ana, and urged Kirito to lead the way out of the dungeon with them. As the main group headed up the stairs to the next floor of Aincrad, the rest of the raid party followed them up, their celebration continuing as they finally reached the floor.

Kirito and Asuna looked at each other before turning back to the rest of the group when they reached a decent distance from the opening of the second floor of Aincrad.

"We will head straight for the teleport plaza in the main town on this floor, so that other people can come here. Everyone else can rest or explore the new floor, whatever your choice. Just remember to be careful, and hopefully we'll be able to take down the next floor boss together in no time."

After Kirito said those words, everyone separated. Mostly, the idea was to explore. Despite the exhausting battle they just went through, they were in an exploratory mood, which would only be more exhausting. With a thought toward that, Kirito was surprised so many of the raid group had enough energy to move around so much. Then again, she reminded herself that everyone other than the boss teams hadn't been expending as much energy. The exhaustion of the boss teams was great because of the push to eliminate the boss as soon as possible. For such a reason...

Either way, Kirito and Asuna walked side by side to the town which wasn't far from the exit of the first floor dungeon. There was no returning to the boss room from the upper floor. The boss wouldn't return, so there was no battling it again. There was no real reason to go back unless for certain materials and other items possibly as they would journey to later floors.

Thoughts ran rampant through Kirito's mind, trying to understand how Ana would be putting everything together in her mind. Kirito sighed, pulling in Asuna's attention more than she was already paying attention to her.

"Are you okay Kirito? Should we rest first?"

Kirito shook her head and smiled to Asuna.

"I'm just being a little stupid. Trying to think of how Ana is going to treat progressing up through Aincrad. I realized a part of me wanted to compete with her. There's no point in that though. She's taking care of everyone in her way. We take care of the floor progression, she helps by keeping our gear updated, and with strategy. If every floor goes as smoothly as the boss today...well, it'll be a while, but we'll eventually get out."

Asuna giggled a little at Kirito's expense.

"That's just like you. To me, I see it more that you're aiming to help as much as Ana does. To lighten her load of work. You have your own part with us leading these raids together, but you're still concerned about her. Remember how I said you were a boy for sure because of your inconsiderate thinking toward her before? You're already the complete opposite of that. Seeing you become such a good person is something that I'm enjoying even more than the interesting things Aincrad is showing us. It's a whole other world that can't be experienced in real life, and Ana and Ryra have been reminding us this whole time, we should be enjoying our time here as much as we can instead of just rushing out of the game. As terrible as that man is for trapping us here, I'm so happy that being here gave me the chance to meet everyone. Especially you, Kirito."

Asuna kissed Kirito on the cheek and smiled warmly. She was genuinely happy that she was in Aincrad. Kirito realized she was happy about being in Aincrad too. So many things in their lives were changing, and most for the better. There was a lot of misfortune tied to the game, but it had already given them so much. They were only on the second floor out of one hundred. How much more would Aincrad give them as they progressed upward?

Kirito and Asuna arrived at the teleport plaza, which looked exactly the same as the ones in the small towns and the larger version in the Town of Beginnings. There, all they needed to do in order to activate it, was touch the stone monument in the middle. From touching the monument, the sound of one clear teleport reached their ears. They turned around, and saw Ana standing there. Ana wore an expression of pride. Her eyes were still closed, but she knew where she was. She didn't need to use her eyes to know that.

"You did great. Was there any difficulty during the boss fight?"

The text window greeted them from Ana, and they laughed softly in response.

"It was almost boring. Thankfully though, everyone made it through safely. Thank you for leading us."

Kirito expressed her gratitude and started sending the drops from the boss to Ana.

"Oh? It actually dropped an equipment? Why didn't you keep it?"

Ana's question surprised Kirito a little.

"I thought...that you would be able to use it to make stronger equipment later. Besides, the gear you crafted is already better than it. The only positive the jacket has over it is an additional function."

Ana sighed and stood there without doing anything until Asuna decided to ask something.

"How about the three of us go and start gathering you some new materials and ingredients? We could come up with new recipes and you could teach us some more about the ingredients and materials we come across. Plus, you're probably interested in the new crafts, right?"

Ana nodded her head and smiled as she faced Asuna.

"That sounds like a very good idea. I am curious though. You and probably everyone else most likely forgot about lunch if you're talking about going on. Check your hunger gauge even if you don't immediately feel hungry. You're losing hit points."

The reminder of hunger from Ana made both Kirito and Asuna flush red with embarrassment, and Ana took their moment of embarrassment to inform everyone else to eat the lunch Ana packed for them before. The momentary embarrassment dealt with, the three sat outside of a new inn on the new floor near the teleport gate plaza, and with the lunches removed from their inventories, they slowly enjoyed the lunch which was packed with Ana's care for everyone she had been building despite her anxieties of dealing with people. As far as the main group, she was only not used to being around Yuuki. It was fine going out as a party with Kirito, Asuna, Leafa and Sinon. It would have still been fine with Sachi. In fact, Ana was waiting for Sachi to join them on the second floor. It was why she insisted on using the dining area in the teleport plaza. Other curious people from the first floor of Aincrad had been steadily making their way up to the second floor, and Ana was waiting for Sachi to show. She was gathering some string for a craft Ana was determined to make.

Unfortunately, the craft wouldn't be able to be used until a skill tree would show up for it. She had to assume that it was something that would be unlocked by players due to certain circumstances. She still wanted to make the equipment though. Perhaps having the equipment on hand would encourage the skill to show up, was along her line of thinking.

As lunch progressed ever slowly and peacefully to finished, the last bite Ana took of her sandwich brought Argo's voice to their ears. Argo was happy and excited in her tone of voice.

"Floor two already! Only one week...or maybe I should be saying why did it take a full week? Just kidding. This is great! Ana-san is already here too, so I suppose she might have been waiting for you to finish and was probably the first person to come to the second floor after everyone cleared the boss?"

Argo's words were a little all over the place from her excitement. However, she was just expressing her excitement, not really seeking an answer. She already knew that Ana would be the first non raider to the floor. It was a little surprising to see Kirito and Asuna with her. Argo became curious since they were sitting outside of what seemed to be a diner. Her information dealing sense flared up and she decided to ask.

"Is the shop here selling something that actually tastes good?"

The three shrugged in response.

"Huh...?"

Argo didn't understand why they were relaxing there. They must have just finished eating, she thought.

"We're waiting for Sachi to finish her chore then the four of us were going to go on scouting for materials and new ingredients. Maybe I'll sell you a new recipe or two?"

Ana toyed with Argo's information dealing spirit a little after telling her the truth of why they were there. They really were waiting for Sachi to return with the results of her chores. Argo was miffed at how easily they were just waiting.

"So there's nothing special about the store?"

Ana shrugged before sending another message.

"I reminded the raiders that they hadn't had the lunches I made everyone after I arrived on this floor, and we just took a spot within reach of the teleport gate. As far as I know, Kirito and Asuna haven't checked out the buildings on this floor yet either. Maybe there were some others from the raid who checked out the town a bit, but I don't know. I would assume for at least the first ten floors, there would only be basic food items being sold in the NPC stores, so there's little to no point in checking. If there is something worth while, then let me know, Argo-chan."

Ana became a little more confident in her words and teased Argo toward the end. It was a little fun turning Argo's personality on her like that. It reminded Ana that there was yet another person she would be fine dealing with to party with and do some of the battling within the game. She didn't yet have an understanding for Argo's ability yet as far as battling, so she pondered on inviting Argo to party with them for the scouting of materials.

As she pondered letting Argo join them, Sachi finally arrived through the teleport gate after another group filed through the gate. She looked around nervously until she found the group at the cafe table.

"So, what kind of chore did Ana have you doing?"

Ana smiled to Sachi, and Sachi passed the items over to her.

"It...it's reinforced string. Ana-san asked to have an NPC weaver turn her high quality basic string into reinforced string, and it took a while to turn all of the high quality into reinforced. I don't know yet what Ana-san is using the string for, so..."

Argo sighed and looked to Ana, hoping that Ana would spill the secret. As expected, Ana shook her head.

"Thank you for doing that for me Sachi. I'll be making the reinforced string into high quality level later. For now, how energetic are you feeling? You ate lunch while waiting for the string right? I'd like you to come along for the scouting of new materials and ingredients."

Sachi nodded her head in response. Of course she meant that she was confirming everything Ana asked of her. Ana stood up, and Kirito and Asuna followed her lead. A party was made between the four of them, and Argo stared hopelessly at them as they started making their way away from the teleport gate plaza, before she shouted in her flustered state for them to wait.

"Hold on! Let me go with you!"

Argo realized she was too excited to just let them go. She wanted to be part of the group who were already famous. Ana was famous within Aincrad in her own right as the dominating crafter and the raid composer. Everyone else from the main team were famous for being the most technically skilled of the players within the game for the time being. The rest of the raiders would be famous until either they were replaced for the next raid, or until another team showed up who were well trained and capable.

"Are you sure? Aren't you more eager to sell information to the people coming up to this floor right away? Are you even ready to fight the monsters on this floor? It's safe to assume the monsters here will be stronger than they were on the first floor."

The reply came from Kirito, who was following along with the tone Ana had been setting for Argo.

"Well aren't you just a bunch of sprites today! Come on, add me to the party! I want to learn from experience, have a problem with that?"

Everyone sighed as if making it an even bigger joke, and the party invite came. Argo smiled wide as she accepted the party invite. She hurried over to them and walked along with them as they journeyed out of the town. Ana checked the stores they passed along the way. She was able to confirm, that there was barely anything of worth. Materials which could be gathered on the first floor which weren't for sale, were on sale on the second floor for expensive prices. There wasn't anything impressive for equipment. There wasn't much new. Anything truly new would be discovered through materials, ingredients and crafting.

Argo kept on asking if there was anything interesting Ana noticed, but she was returned with the disappointing truth. She sighed, and eventually her mood picked up as the fields full of new monsters appeared in view. Ana was able to take in the sound of it all in a way that was better than seeing. There were plenty of flying monsters, there was less of a floating island theme of the first floor, and there was already an area boss within reach. Ana was ready to lead them on attacking it.

Ana checked on everyone's readiness, and she went forward with Kirito. As long as the monster moved the same way as the same monster in the other game, she would be able to dodge any attack just fine. After setting its aggro and scaring the wits from Argo, she set about dodging and having the others back off until she would have the dodging fully understood. When she blew the familiar sounding version of her own whistle to signal them make their move, she unleashed a flurry of deep slashes which chunked away the monster's health rapidly. Argo stared at the battle Ana was having with the monster as if she were seeing something completely unbelievable. She hadn't personally seen Ana fighting any time other than her complete humiliating of Kibaou.

Ana's every move was smooth, precise and dashed out ridiculous amounts of health. Even a single strike was incomparable to the skills being used by the rest of the party. Asuna and Kirito were both about equally as fast, Asuna's fluid stabs with the rapier, Kirito's slashes like wind cutting through to the bone, and Sachi was also dealing quite the amount of damage with her new spear. Argo was left in the dust as the area boss tumbled to pixels. The drops went to the party leader of course, and she held onto the items, her inventory surprisingly light. She was able to carry a lot after selling a bunch of crafts she had prepared before leaving the first floor. She intended to start fresh with the new items on the new floor, and if she needed anything from the first floor, she would return and grab those without any issue.

Nobody blamed Argo for her disbelief at how swiftly the boss monster was dealt with. She had to wonder...just how fast would the floor boss have been dealt with if Ana had been part of the team? The battle had actually been quite long, despite how early in the day it was. Four hours straight of the one battle, was how long it took to defeat the first floor's boss when it came down to just following the instructions. Ana did know that it would have been faster if she could have been there. She intended to be part of a floor boss fight eventually, but the circumstances would have to be that it would only be the boss monster in the room, without the interference of additional monsters. So long as she could avoid taking damage and keeping up her stamina while pacing herself well with Kirito off-tanking, a floor boss battle wouldn't be much different from an area battle on the floor.

"Some new items there, which is a good sign. We have plenty of new monster types here, so a few of each at least, until we have a good understanding on what items they drop. Let's keep going for a few hours. Are you up for it Argo-chan?"

Ana's additional message box to Argo at the end had her flustered. Argo certainly wasn't used to grinding away at monsters all day like Ana's group, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from collecting free information from going along with them. She was with the strongest group of people in the game, so there was no use in worrying about her safety.

"I'm fine, let's go kill some monsters!"

Argo's enthusiasm was a little humorous to them, but they kept the humour to themselves, and the day wore on, showing the group that they truly hadn't anything to worry about. The new monsters were dropping nice new items, and Ana could make everyone slightly more overpowered. She was confident that the second floor would be even easier than the first, and she was also in high spirits over something else. A new skill tree was unlocked.

The new skill tree, which was tied to both combat and to crafting. The one most overpowered thing in the game, was unlocked earlier than she had been hoping for, and she was thrilled.


	15. Chapter 15

~Enchanted~

The news had spread quickly. The new unlocked most powerful skill in the game was unlocked by the most powerful player in the game. Buying gear from her was all the more valuable and useful within the game. Even less skilled or afraid players of the danger had come up from the first floor to check out the gear Ana created. Ana wore her own new set of equipment which gave a kind of signature feel to her. She would probably only make minor adjustments to the shape of her equipment as they would progress further through Aincrad. Still, they were early in the game, so the addition of her new ability was only going to grant so much.

The enchanting skill gave certain perks, and she had to unlock them through experimenting with it a lot. She gathered the most unlocking potential through battling, so she ended up only crafting and selling for short periods of time, while devoting much of her time into levelling the skill. The skill could only be levelled so much though, bound to the level of the avatar. She was still at a low overall level, so she couldn't harness the full power of enchanting.

Still, the gear of the entire group surrounding her was intimidating to say the least. Ana needed to have two different sets of gear. One enchanted set for performing better crafting and enchanting overall, that set was for when she was in town and performing that role, while she also had a battle set. The rest of the team had their battle set, and they were considered all the more powerful.

Ana wasn't the only to unlock a new skill set. Sinon also had the limelight on floor two, her shooting skill unlocked, along with her new incredible bow crafted by Ana, dealt the highest amount of damage in the game. Having the bow didn't mean losing the use of her dagger either. The dagger became her sub weapon, while her bow was her main weapon. There was something a little more unique about the bow, since it was something that from the start, was high quality for the reason Ana having crafted it by hand, designing it herself without letting the game decide things for itself. She revealed that it was what the string was for before, the reason she was working on getting stronger string. So that she would be able to promote something like a shooting skill to be found.

Ana discovered that there were a few factors which decided Sinon earn the skill, which she also worked on with her time on the second floor, so that Ana as well could unlock use of the bow. She could outright use a bow she made and there would be little to no issue. She just wouldn't be able to make use of the skills. So, she was doing so. She hoped to be able to unlock perks through a skill tree for using her bow inside of the game.

The fact that she was able to use her base ability with a bow only made her more intimidating to everyone. She still even overpowered Sinon's use of game skills with the bow with her accuracy. A single perfect critical hit on non-boss enemies was often enough to outright kill. That was how powerful the bow was. That she was able to use the bow to that degree, was what made her ability with the bow intimidating, more than the fact she was still doing everything without her vision.

At this point as well, she no longer needed to hold her eyes closed. She had unlocked the ability to craft a custom visor for her eyes to block her vision. The equipment attached to her face and covered her eyes, in a style instead of something to block her vision, enhance her vision. If she used the equipment the way it was meant to be used, she would be able to enhance her virtual vision with the equipment, but she used it instead for defence and the blocking capability. She didn't need to wait for the shops on later floors for the visor, which only made it easier to keep her mind calm on the topic of using her eyes or not to keep the sense of normality with real life.

Argo wasn't let in on the information for being able to use the bow. Only people who were desperate and were able to pass a test were given the information. Still, only Sinon had the shooting skill tree within the game after another week. They still hadn't found the dungeon for the second floor, as the floor was larger than the first. Even with Ana's combing through the environment with her grinding for materials, ingredients and ideas for new equipment, she was perfectly settled. She just didn't know where the dungeon was. At this point, everyone was looking for it. Well, not everyone, but everyone with the courage to traverse the fields of the second floor.

Ana was taking a break that day, taking her time and going at her own pace while gathering ingredients and materials for food and crafting gear for other players who intended to offer their hands to progressing up Aincrad.

Because of the atmosphere that the lead group wasn't almighty for not having progressed up another floor after a week, a gathering of unhappy people had started forming an organization. These people in the organization were calling themselves The Army. They stole from players who wouldn't leave the safe areas, they pushed for gaining levels against weak basic floor monsters, grinding against them eighteen hours a day as if it were a job, and they were still completely amateur in both their ability in fighting, as well as their levels. Ana stood clear at the top as far as levels. A whole five levels above the rest of the main group which included Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, Sachi and Yuuki. It was because of her crafting, and especially because of her enchanting. Her level was able to determine, that it wasn't so much level which put her above the rest. It was her skill. She invested time into a little of everything. She knew how to use every weapon type at least as good as the better specialists within the game of the same weapon. She was at least challenged in skill level by the one handed sword skill of the main group with Kirito, Leafa and Yuuki. Asuna was better than her at using the rapier. Sinon was just slightly less experienced or capable in comparison to Ana.

Ana's literal skill had set goals. If someone could challenge and stand a chance against her with their own primary weapon type, then they would have the confidence to fight certain challenges. She didn't encourage those challenges, and she in fact despised how much attention she was garnering. She was growing more and more tempted to just be a solo player. Let the main group be a medium for transaction with selling gear when they were taking some time from training and searching for the dungeon.

Ana continued her search through the second floor, not hoping for anything in particular. She hoped to find new interesting materials or ingredients. Maybe find the dungeon entrance. Maybe find something unique. Nothing was a particular goal though. Just something new on the floor would be enough after a week. She wanted to be able to keep the pace of one floor per week, she even hoped for faster than that. At one floor per week...it was dismal, but only because she would be unable to return home before nine months would pass. She wouldn't be able to return before her pregnancy would come to end. She still didn't know, and she waited on Ryra for the news on whether she really had become pregnant. She had a frightening level of patience with most things. Most, but it didn't include the news of something so important. She didn't have the patience when she waited on confirmation for her early surgery in her life to be comfortable in her body. She didn't have patience when she was waiting on confirmation for her first pregnancy. She again didn't have patience waiting on whether she would be pregnant again. The first time, she was actually hoping she wouldn't become pregnant since she was still in school. She didn't regret being pregnant though, when she was. She enjoyed it as much as she could, then had all of that bliss taken away from her when she was not allowed to raise her child.

There were always road blocks in her life for some reason or another. For her first child, the blocks were simple. She was a student. She was blind. She was dependent on her parents. She was a single parent. She was also under the pressure of the block called her not originally being a woman. All of those reasons, prevented one of her life goals being trampled on in the past. Now, she could break a lot of those blocks, but she couldn't be there to deliver her baby. If she would have a successful pregnancy with Ryra's help, she would end up having another c-section surgery to have her baby born without pushing it out. Ana wanted to be able to give a natural birth for her time with Ryra.

Ana ascended a hill in the forest she was travelling through on the second floor, and she heard a soft breathing. At first she assumed it to be a monster or a tamable creature within the game, which she hadn't reached the skill level for yet to craft a taming instrument, so it wouldn't matter either way. She had been taking note of where to find tamable creatures, so that when the time would come, she would be able to tame a creature. A helpful presence which might be able to ease a little of her loneliness when she would take her breaks away from people within the game.

When she looked down toward the source of the breathing, to break her assumption of monster or normal game creature, she found a sleeping NPC. The NPC was an older man, sitting up against a tree. He had a very brusque atmosphere about him as far as what would count as appearances she felt the game tell her about him. Her hearing couldn't discern his clothing much. He was a very large man. Perhaps more than seven feet tall. Perhaps some kind of giant breed NPC? She pondered on it, and as she drew closer to the sleeping NPC, she got an alert. A quest had been initiated. The NPC woke up, slowly realizing his surroundings. He stood up and yawned as he stretched, and noticed Ana standing there, more than two feet shorter than him. She felt like a child in comparison to his ridiculous height.

"Hello there. You must be one of those adventurers. You wouldn't happen to know where the shrine of this forest is, would you? I want to deliver some offerings to the grave located there."

Ana wondered. She had explored plenty of the forest already and hadn't found anything like a shrine. She could pick out some places where it might be if she thought about it enough. With a nod of her head, the quest was accepted, and he followed when she led the way.

The quest was just a little detour. Not even much a detour. She was intending to find something unique and interesting she hadn't yet found on the floor. She did find something. A unique little quest to just find a hidden location within the forest. Just that. It wasn't anything fancy or special. It was actually quite calming. Walking with such a giant of a man was a little strange though. There was no sense of a real person being beside her. It was almost like she were on a quest to guide a literal giant monster to a certain place. The monster was friendly though, and though quiet at the beginning, apparently there was speech programmed into the NPC to make small talk for the more talkative players.

"You're a real cute little gal, aren't you? About big as my daughter."

The small talk passed, and a minute later, Ana could make out the feeling of something like a shrine within the forest ahead. Apparently the NPC could see it as well, as his thundering feet trampled past her toward the shrine. She sighed and joined him by the shrine. There, she could feel something a little strange. It wasn't a simple payment, experience or item reward quest, she realized as the quest marker changed. Offer something of value, be granted something special in return, was the new condition for the quest. Offer something special to the shrine, and it would bestow something of equal or possibly greater value was in the additional information. She smiled and wondered just how overpowered such a shrine would be. How many times she might be able to use it.

With a bonus of her specifically crafted to herself bow, she tested her theory. The shrine consumed the bow, the item breaking and disappearing. In exchange, the game informed Ana that she had gained three perks to her skills, and the shooting skill tree also appeared. It was an extremely exaggeratedly high return on exchange. Having the skill tree unlocked by offering a powerful bow at the beginning of the game? Obtaining the crafting perks of bonus dexterity on all bows crafted, strength added to all strings on crafted bows, and twenty times the durability for all bows crafted...she was tempted to craft herself a new bow right there in the forest. She was also tempted to offer something else of value. She didn't need her primary sword, and she had a weaker backup, the strong sword from the first floor she could use if she needed something for dealing with close range obstacles on the way back to the main town of the floor. Placing her best sword on the pedestal, it was consumed as well, granting her yet another high return on her offering. She unlocked another weapon skill tree, which made little to no sense to her at first, but then she realized how overpowered the new skill tree was. Magic swords. Magic swords had a near mage like power given to their wielder. She couldn't literally use spells, but her sword could house and unleash elements. Either from close range, unleashing much more power from a close range strike, or unleashing less powerful ranged strikes. The more range, the weaker the power of the elemental damage. It was still incredibly overpowered. As well, she was gifted two more crafting perks. Ten times more durability on all swords crafted, and up to three elements able to be stored within one magic sword.

Ana had decided to make full use of this shrine in the woods, and she had the blissful sound of the giant man humming, praying at the shrine while she offered all of her other powerful weapons. She kept her primary bow and her backup sword, and she kept her armour and clothing from the first floor, donating everything up to the tree. Her enchanting and crafting perks were all soaring from the ridiculous return on investment to the shrine. At the end, the shrine was no different, and the quest didn't end. There was no further objective. Just a marker to always tell her how to find her way back to the shrine and offer more up to it in the future. She would be able to use it more in the future? Thinking of that, she had truly found a treasure within the game. While her mind buzzed with the happiness of such a great find, she explored a little more of the forest. Where she hadn't been, and she eventually found something still quite exciting. In fact, nothing was more exciting than finding the entrance to a new dungeon.

She had found the entrance to the dungeon of the second floor, enshrouded in the forest. Her map of the forest was almost totally complete, and when the dungeon filled in the chunk it belonged in and she marked it on her map, she immediately sent the map information to Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, Sachi and Yuuki. She followed up the map information to them with a message that they were going to want to wait on entering the dungeon.

Ana didn't have a quick method of transporting back to the town, so she hurried as best she could through the forest. She still needed to be careful while being blind, so she couldn't run. It was a rather larger forest, and the distance to get out of the forest from where she had been, was enough that it took her an hour to get out. Because of the excited nature of the rest of the group, they didn't wait for her to return to the town, eager to know what Ana discovered in order to tell them to wait before entering the new dungeon after discovering it. They were puzzled, worried even at the sight of her in her first floor gear.

"What happened to you?!"

Ana shook her head, understanding right away their concern at her being in lower level gear.

"Wait until we get back to the town and I'll show you what happened."

Their confusion only grew more and they were more concerned about more happening when they would return to the town. Thankfully, it only took about ten minutes to reach the town after exiting the forest. When they reached the town, they found an area for crafting which was unpopulated by players. There, Ana got to work right away. From clothing, to leather gear, to armour, then onto metal weapons, and finally bows. She crafted new equipment for everyone. She needed to get some of the materials from them to complete the crafts. They were still confused until she handed the new equipment over to them.

Every single one of them was speechless when they realized how ridiculous the information was on their new gear. Ana had replaced her bow and sword, having the new magic sword at her hip and her newly enhanced bow on her back. The durability of the bows had been a weakness to using the bow. There would need to be multiple in the inventory to be able to use them reliably in a situation like a boss battle or a dungeon. That was no longer an issue. After equipping her own magic sword, she asked if the rest of the sword users wanted to have their weapons made to have the magic attributes. Of course they didn't deny. For Kirito's magic sword, lightning, quake and holy attributes were attached. For Asuna's rapier, holy, wind and frost attributes were added. For Leafa's sword, wind, fire and frost attributes were added. Yuuki, copied Ana's set of magic attributes. Holy, lightning and curse were added to her new sword.

Even though strength wasn't one of the attributes added to the swords, their weapons were also stronger than they had been. Everything had been massively upgraded.

"Let's keep the dungeon a secret, and we'll explore it tomorrow. If there aren't any additional monsters, let's clear the boss on our own."

The feeling everyone had about Ana at that moment, was that she had every reason to be so confident in taking an undersized party through a floor boss. She wasn't done showing them interesting things. She even made a quick snack for everyone since there was still plenty of time until dinner. She had unlocked something very special, sacrificing her extra lunch she would usually have prepared for another player she might happen across out in the fields. She unlocked another level of quality for cooking. Well, for all crafting. The higher level of crafting was what gave even more strength to all of the gear. The superior quality level food, even a basic crepe was beyond delicious. The superior quality level gear, every fine detail she crafted in was completely present. The enchantments were even stronger because of the crafting level alone.

Ana had almost ascended with her find in the forest. She had essentially turned her specially crafted bow into a shield like she had intended, and it would be perfectly logical to do so with the massive hike in durability. Everything else was just added fun. That shrine in the woods, it was literally a gamers' paradise.

As far as her bow, it truly was something special as everyone stared at hers and Sinon's bows.

Sinon's bow didn't veer from the traditional means for a bow. It was completely meant for engaging an enemy at long range, and killing them before they would grow close enough to hurt her. The design was like a military compound bow. Made from a strong and flexible metal instead of a high density carbon, shaped in a way that the more strength used, far more would be put behind the arrow. If such a thing existed in real life, one of Sinon's arrows wouldn't simply lodge into a target. It would run right through the target and possibly multiple things behind the target unless it were hitting a thick heavy metal. Her arrows would become like bullets because of the launching power of her bow and heavily reinforced superior quality string. The design wasn't anything out of the ordinary outside of the materials, like a regular compound bow, made of layers of different materials to make it stronger and provide more spring power to the main body of the bow.

For Ana's bow, it was more like...a kite shield. It was made of a light metal compound, heavily strengthened in the same sense as a compound bow. It was light enough that it didn't encumber Ana at all. If she were in a hurry for whatever reason, she would hide it or put it into her inventory so it wouldn't interfere with running. The shape, was like a spear head. Wide at the top, thin and to the point at the bottom. If Ana wanted, she could plant the blade at the bottom of the bow into the ground, and use the top section of the bow as a ballast, the body of the bow protecting her from any forward attacks toward her to a large degree. When using the ballast section at the top, it would be even stronger than Sinon's bow. For the main section of the bow, there was a cross section opening inside. An aiming reticule so to say. Large enough for the arrows to fit through properly. Instead of using the body, or a handle section of a regular bow, she had a tower shield handle in the bow in exactly the most comfortable place for holding it as a bow. If she didn't use either sections for the bow, and had to use it in close range to attack instead of just using it as a shield, she could stun a monster, knock them to the ground and use the blade at the bottom as a thrusting weapon. So far, she hadn't the need to use the blade at the bottom of her bow, which was somehow relieving to everyone in the group. They didn't want to know how powerful a planting stab from the bow would do as damage to a downed enemy. They all agreed on the notion it was most likely a finishing kind of attack.

Kirito had expressed the interest in being able to use a bow as well. While it would be fine for Kirito to use a bow on field monsters if she were skilled enough, Kirito was much more accustomed to tanking, and it would be much better for team composition if Kirito didn't fall out of practice with using the sword and tanking type of combat. Ana was tempted to see what kind of result the others might get from the shrine though, so she decided to take them out to the shrine before the end of the day. It would definitely be evening before they would return to the main town, but it would be worth the trip to and from the shrine, depending on how generous they were with the shrine.

When they arrived at the shrine, Ana didn't know what to expect. She was expecting something along the lines of crafting since she had so much crafting additions. There had been a thought with that, perhaps it was because of how much crafting she did she got so many perks and bonuses for donating to the shrine.

Her thoughts and speculations were answered. For Kirito, offering a powerful bow and a one hand magic sword granted different gifts entirely. Extra equipment was forged for everyone to offer to the shrine. Kirito's bow turned into two skill trees. Assassination attacks, and the shooting skill tree. Kirito's one handed sword turned into another three skill trees. Dual wielding one handed swords and daggers, magic swords, and kendo skill tree. For the kendo skills, katana, one hand swords and magic swords were available.

For Leafa, offering her magic sword granted her only the kendo and magic sword skill trees. For Sinon, her bows would automatically have wind attribute and she had a higher chance of critical strikes, as well as the assassination attacks, which added to her bow and dagger skills. For Asuna, her rapier turned into an additional fencing skill tree to already having the rapier skills tree. She was also granted a special attribute to her rapiers, the ability to heal without the use of items. For Yuuki, her magic sword also turned into the magic sword skill tree and dual wielding one handed swords and daggers. For Sachi, her spear turned into a skill tree for two ended spears and two ended swords, as well as the same healing attribute Asuna's rapier turned into.

Everyone was thrilled with their new available skills, and they were eager to level up their proficiency with each new skill set to unlock more from them. They were even more eager to test them against the dungeon the next day. After satisfying their offerings to the shrine, they returned to town, and had the most peaceful night they could imagine. Ana's question had been answered. Not one of them earned anything toward crafting. In exchange, Ana didn't get some of the skill sets the others obtained. She hadn't acquired the healing attribute. She hadn't obtained dual wielding. She hadn't earned the assassination skills. She hadn't earned the kendo skills. It didn't bother her. She had no interest in putting another sword in her hands. She had some, but minimal interest in kendo. She was more an honourable type of fighter, or a hunter, so assassination skills were nearly pointless. The healing attribute would have only taken away some of the reasoning for her to craft potions. If she had any reason to try for more, she could always return there and try out offering more to the shrine. For the time being, she was more than powerful enough. The rest of the group were more than powerful enough. If she only needed to deal with them, then everyone would be entirely set going forward. She really wanted to pull back on her weapon crafting, but she was worried finding another good crafter would be so minimal with how much her crafting seemed to have discouraged other players from crafting. While there were some who wanted to try and rival or challenge Ana in crafting, none stuck with it long, or they simply became stuck with their normal quality crafting. They could level up the skill as much as they wanted, but without the knowledge of how to craft something and make it worthy of being high quality, it would always be either normal or worse in quality when performing by hand.

Ana was exhausted. She realized that. Even on her break days, she was exhausted. Either she was pushing her anxiety to handle being around people, pushing herself to craft the best possible equipment for everyone, or she was pushing herself to learn monsters and find and understand a dungeon so that the dungeon and the boss monster could be handled smoothly, with or without her. Ana was so incredibly exhausted, she forgot to set her alarm that night, and she had left the base setting alone where only her instinct to wake up would wake her.


	16. Chapter 16

~Second Floor Dungeon~

They had waited three days for Ana to wake up. Even Ryra had gotten in touch with them because of Ana's constant readings for being asleep being present. No matter how calm Ana could be, no person could operate on a level where their mind considers them asleep. There was nothing they could do. The plan to run through the dungeon...proceeded without Ana as the group of six traversed inside.

The dungeon at the end of the forest was filled with more than one type of monster this time. This time, the dungeon was filled with forest themed monsters. Treants, giant insects, rabid wildlife such as squirrels and wolves...it was hectic, and there was a dread filling them. While there was a great ability to heal granted to Asuna and Sachi, it didn't cover poisons, and they had a limited supply. They had to be careful, regardless of how strong they had become.

Kirito led the march through the dungeon, having her dual magic swords ready to cut down anything and keep them from having too many monsters after them with the massive amount of damage reducing enemy numbers in little to no time at all. The dungeon was confusing, the mapping very slow. Everyone could only think about how valuable it would be for Ana to be with them. Eventually, it had arrived at the point that if there were insects ahead which could be dealt with quickly, Kirito and Sinon would unload arrows into them and defeat the enemies before they would be close enough to be a threat. The dungeon became a little easier when treating it as a ranged experience. Sachi took the lead in the end with the range of her spear, while Kirito and Sinon pulled their opponents with their ranged attacks. The combination was good even with the larger treant enemies. They proceeded smoothly, and even managed to take on a few of the minor boss monsters within the dungeon along the way. After stopping for lunch, they proceeded with passing the minor bosses along the way. They didn't double back at any point to return to the town. They continued to evening.

They weren't exhausted, thankfully. It was mostly due to a bonus effect from the electric element on the magic swords which had them. The electric element put an effect in the air as long as it was drawn. This effect was called ener, or more accurately, energize. The electricity of the magic kept the energizing effect in the air, keeping everyone's exhaustion at bay. It even held off the effect of hunger from developing.

A positive to their lack of retreating back to town, was that they reached the boss door when the time at the top of their peripheral vision read out ten in the evening. They couldn't turn back, but going forward, if they could burn down the boss monster fast enough, was far faster than going back.

Everyone was nervous of the idea of checking the other side of the door. So much evidence pointed to the possibility that they would be facing multiple monsters in the boss battle. They would rather sleep in the dungeon than turn back at the current time. At least outside of the boss room was a safe area, so they had nothing to worry about other than the criminal players if somehow they had been camping out.

When Kirito pulled together the courage to open the door and look, the group tensed up completely, hoping for the best. Everyone stepped back, the idea being that the battle on the other side might rush out to them even though the door opened in toward the boss room, not out. When the door was fully open, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. All fire attributes were engaged on their weapons, and they stepped into the boss room, the door of the room closing behind them.

The boss monster of the floor, was a giant moth monster. There was plenty they knew from fighting the insect monsters of the floor. There was also plenty they didn't know about the moth monster. Everyone took their opportunity to plan the fight out before proceeding further inside. Kirito would take main lead, with Yuuki on off tanking for Kirito. Asuna would healing support Kirito, and Sinon would be the primary damage dealer for the entire battle with her shooting skill using her bow. The fire from Kirito and Yuuki would disable any afflictions the moth powder could cause. The healing from Asuna and Sachi as well as their support would seal their state of health, and Leafa would provide as much damage from behind the monster as possible. With that basic, simple strategy, the party proceeded.

Kirito rushed forward first, securing the aggro before Sinon was given the signal to start outputting damage. As they noticed quickly, the moth monster was far more fragile than they were expecting. From the fire damage, the arrows, the constant back attacks, the damage and bleeding stacked, burning the hit points down nearly as fast as the impressive movements Ana could make against normal boss monsters. There was happy speculation as they burned down the boss monster, just how nicely they were carrying on Ana's influence. The boss monster after only twenty minutes was reduced to the materials and equipment it dropped.

The victory music played for defeating the boss, and unlike with the firs boss floor, they weren't quiet. The team all closed in on each other and hugged each other in their excitement when the six alone were able to destroy the boss monster of the second floor. Even without Ana's strategy. Even with only a quarter the amount of people involved in their battle as from the first floor. Their excitement couldn't be contained. Eventually their excitement and the lack of the electricity enchantment being present, they were faced heavily by the presence of their exhaustion.

The exhaustion sinking in, was their signal to get out from the boss room, and they hurried out as fast as their limbs could carry them. Their hunger had also reached a point they needed to attend to it in minutes, or they would start losing their hit points.

There was desperation, continuous use of the healing attribute from Asuna and Sachi, and there was fear of some inevitable thing coming too early. As soon as the town was in sight for them, Kirito remembered filling snacks that she had learned and had prepared for emergency situations. She stopped everyone for long enough for her to pull the snacks out of the inventory. Kirito hadn't realized that she only had five of the snacks in her inventory, and there wasn't enough time or energy, enough stability to make another of the snack so that everyone could have one.

Kirito gave the snacks to everyone else, and after everyone else ate theirs, she leaned against Asuna, asking for her to support Kirito while they moved forward. Kirito was able to barely stave off the draining of her hit points with her potions, and at some point the consumption of the potions reached a point that the hunger stopped. The consumption of the potion liquid on mass gave her barely enough relief from the hunger to be able to make it into the town, but the hunger appeased enough, the exhaustion knocked Kirito unconscious. Kirito fell into Asuna's arms.

Asuna was terrified of anything else happening to Kirito. She was terrified of the hunger returning and eating away Kirito's hit points in her sleep. She was terrified of Kirito staying asleep like Ana.

Asuna pulled Kirito's sleeping form up into a princess carry, and brought her into an inn near the teleport gate. None of the team even put the teleport gate activation in their mind, too concerned over Kirito living through the night to be able to worry about the teleport gate being active. At the inn, they purchased a room for the entire team, they put Kirito into a bed, and Asuna hurried down to the kitchen with Leafa acting as an alarm to tell her if the hunger returned. Asuna made the tang bread, the first dish she had learned from Ana, and she hurried back up to the room. When she returned, Kirito was still sleeping peacefully, her health not draining. Her hunger would slowly drop during sleep. A tenth the pace hunger would drain through active time. Asuna knew she would have to make everyone more food before they could go to bed, but for the time being, Kirito's current hunger and health dilemma was more important to deal with, and the hunger of the rest of the team was something that could currently be made to wait at least another hour. It was already an agreement that everyone would sleep in after all of their effort through the day.

Asuna carefully woke Kirito from her sleep, and broke the bread into small bits, feeding the tang bread to Kirito in those safe small bites. Kirito was still so tired and weak from pushing so hard through the day, she wasn't able to take the food past her mouth. Asuna started to cry in her desperation to try and help Kirito eat. To keep Kirito safe and alive. As her hope for being able to take care of Kirito crumbled away, footsteps could be heard echoing loudly through the inn. A text window appeared in front of the faces of every person in the room.

"You made it very difficult to find you. I had to clear the dungeon alone. I had to fight a floor boss. Found out that nobody made it to this floor yet. Made dinner and started waiting. Noticed the situation when you all went through the teleport plaza, carrying Kirito here. Heard Asuna desperately trying her best. Desperation can be an ugly thing. Make you forget something as simple as giving a thicker fluid to sate hunger instead of full solids. I have some yogurt for Kirito, and some ice cream for your dessert. I also have a nice steak dinner waiting for you downstairs. I'm proud of you, for doing your best. I'm also a little disappointed. That you let your confidence overcome your sense of preparation. I suppose I just need to teach you more. About being ready for anything. Kirito had the right idea with the snacks. Everyone should always have those. Sorry for my prolonged sleep. Sorry for making you wait. And sorry for making you worry. We have the third floor to ourselves for the night. Now, I have Asuna and Kirito's dinner in my inventory, everyone else, go downstairs and eat your fill."

By the time they made it through the first few words, Ana stepped in through the door of the inn room, and she walked over beside Asuna. Everyone stared at Ana, as if there were something completely ethereal about her presence there. They had to admit, she showed up at the most unexpected, most needed time so far. Tears streamed down everyone's face except hers. She wore a happy, nurturing expression.

Ana knelt down beside Asuna. She activated the table function of the bed, like a patient tray to appear in front of Kirito, and she pulled a bowl of thick soup which filled the room with the scent of meat, vegetables, and herbs almighty. While Kirito didn't have the energy to feed herself, Asuna did her best to help Kirito. Ana could only smile when she saw how dedicated Asuna was to the relationship between them. How accepting Leafa and Sinon had become in such a short time. She was proud, and happy of the progress of the teenagers under her care.

As Kirito gained the strength and ability to feed herself, Ana pulled Asuna's meal from her inventory, and she pulled her own ice cream for herself, eating that so she wasn't left out of the current meal atmosphere. As Kirito and Asuna reached a point where their hunger and energy were at a balanced level, where they could go to sleep with ease and peace of mind, Ana noticed their gazes fall on her again.

"How...how did you get here? Alone? It sounded like you got here before us?"

Asuna asked those questions, and Ana's expression became very tired.

"I...woke up to hear that all of you left for the dungeon. Apparently you were determined to prove to me that you could do it without me. You proved your point well. You forged on ahead, but you also forgot many things along the way. I will make those a lesson for another time. I left the town at ten in the morning. I reached the dungeon at noon. I hurried through the dungeon in as measured a path as possible, finding the boss room door based off of maze algorithm from the first floor before four in the afternoon. At that time, I waited half an hour, hoping to catch you before you went in. I checked the friends list constantly to make sure your names were still lit up and fine. Eventually, I had the idea after that half hour of waiting, that you might have already gone through the boss room door. When I entered, there was a boss on the other side of the door. I assumed that if you had been through, you hadn't yet activated the teleport gate since a boss monster doesn't spawn in those rooms unless a certain condition is met. I was confused, but I made sure I was as prepared as possible and dealt with the wolverine treant before heading up the stairs to this floor. I discovered on this floor, that indeed the teleport gate hadn't been activated. I explored. I didn't find you. I explored some more, decided I should have my dinner and wait at the teleport plaza for you to show up after making some dinner for you in case you faced the situation you did, unprepared for the need of food. I knew Kirito always kept five extra snacks with her to stave off hunger when she would decide to do days on her own. She gains habits from myself after all. Like a child constantly learning from a mother and or their role model. I'm so proud of everyone. I promise, that I won't make everyone worry anymore."

Asuna and Kirito were emotional over hearing how much Ana had been looking out and worried for them, then they were distracted by the type of boss monster she faced alone. It sounded multiple times more frightening. Could it have been from the fact that it was the original boss monster of the floor? It didn't matter. They only realized more and more how much Ana knew them in the time they had to learn about each other. Ana knew enough about everyone, that she was able to accurately save them from their own weakness in preparation. She knew how prepared, and not prepared enough to know that they should be able to handle defeating the floor boss should it still be there after she confirmed having been the first to defeat it, which led to her making the dinner for them. Her knowledge of the snacks Kirito carried had her prepared to know what kind of food state they would be in precisely.

As the rest of the team filed upstairs into the room to find that Asuna and Kirito were stunned by Ana yet again, Ana was pulling out the desserts from her inventory. Kirito's small bowl of yogurt placed in front of her first, a small bowl of ice cream passed to Asuna, then to the rest of the team one by one as they approached they all had their ice cream given to them. What they didn't know about the ice cream, was that Ana had planned ahead to the desserts for them as well. A heavy sleeping enchantment on them, so that they would get the rest they needed. A full day and then through the night of the next day, with their hunger fully sated.

Everyone fell asleep on their beds as Ana planned, and she secured them like a mother tucking in her children. She hadn't purchased her own inn room, and she really didn't need one. She already had a nap, with an alarm set earlier to tell her when someone reached the teleport plaza. They woke her up after a two hour nap. She would be fine for sleep through the night. She would have the entire third floor to herself for a day, as she would leave it to them to activate the gate. They earned it, she decided. She only did as per her normal and took care of them with meals, and they could even agree on her contribution having been part of their boss battle. Whatever would be said, would be said. Either way, she was grateful to have a full day of doing whatever she pleased on the new floor.

As she fell asleep on the couch of the inn room of the party, the door closed and locked, with all securities in place, she put thoughts of Ryra in her mind, how she would feel about Ana treating her team, Ryra's patients, as her children. Ana wondered. Would Ryra be supportive? Many questions floated about, and they became a questioning dream of whether Ana was happy or concerned with the current situation. What she knew for certain, was that as far as her actions within Aincrad, she had not a single regret. The girls she cared for, the team who gathered around her, were important to her, and she was doing her best to make sure that they were raised well within the virtual environment. She was mother, teacher, and military strategist. She slept her most peaceful, most satisfying sleep since entering the game that night, knowing that she had nothing to worry about.


	17. Chapter 17

~Asuna Yuuki and Visitation~

Ryra had been relieved to finally hear back from Ana the day before, and as she was receiving another call from Ana within Sword Art Online, she had been going to a call from a nurse checking on Asuna Yuuki's room. There was no issue with Asuna's health, but Ryra had been certain to have the medical staff inform her if either of Asuna's parents returned, to have Ryra paged over to the room immediately. Ryra answered Ana's call along the way, checking in on other patients along the way. It was rather early in the morning, so there was little to nothing to worry about. It seemed Ana's habit and teachings had reached most of the people within that game to get proper sleep.

It had been a worrying situation the night before with Kazuto and Suguha Kirigaya, Shino Asada, Asuna Yuuki, a surprise patient Chisane Mahara and alert from Yuuki's overseer coming at the same time, but thankfully the situation all stabilized before midnight, and everyone was confirmed at a state of sleep from their readings. They were all healthy, and with Ana's call, the first thing she said to Ryra was an apology for not protecting her patients the night before, but confirming they were all perfectly fine and taking the day off.

"What happened that everything was so much a mess yesterday?"

Ana's response took a little longer than usual. More from hesitation and calculating how best to answer that.

"Because of my still being asleep in bed yesterday morning for more than three days, the rest had decided to take their chances with the dungeon of the second floor. They weren't completely prepared. They proceeded through the dungeon instead of turning back, and defeated a secondary floor boss that was there after I cleared the true floor boss before alone. Because of their ill preparation, it might have been that they went through more stressful condition after the battle due to their exhaustion and hunger within the game eating away at them. I thankfully had prepared and Kirito's self preparation for emergency situations managed to pull through together. After I ensured everyone was properly fed, I made sure everyone had a good dose of sleeping enchanted food so now they're being forced to have a full day of sleep. I took the path I assumed to be what would help them most, and thankfully it all pulled together properly."

Ana's words were more methodical and as if she were answering a law enforcement representative instead of Ryra, who she knew would be accepting of any answer. Ana was just being careful in the case of possibility that anything on the device being possible to be recorded and sent to law enforcement later.

"You did great work yesterday then. What are your plans for today?"

Ana sighed and responded more quickly to that question.

"Rest mostly. I'll do some slow paced exploration and check some of the new items and materials of this floor before returning and getting some more rest myself. I also took on that exhausting dungeon yesterday. Alone. As exhausted as they are, I did the same amount of work. The only difference was level of preparation."

Ryra smiled and nodded her head.

"Trust you to be the best judge of situation. The only mistake I can think of you making to date would be diving into that game with your instinct alone being the main driving force. But, that's you. It's all something that can be expected. Thank you for keeping everyone safe."

Ana nodded her head from the other side of the conversation, and Ryra sent her a text message to end the call, telling her that she was closing in on a patient she needed to deal with more carefully. Ana understood and ended the call from her end.

Ryra took a deep breath, and entered the room which held Asuna Yuuki, and her mother who was looking at her with a frustrated expression. Ryra was still disgusted with how Asuna seemed to be considered by her parents.

"Ah, doing your rounds, Ryra-sensei?"

Ryra nodded her head, and went right to the life sign machines, confirming and noting the state of sleep she had just confirmed again with Ana before entering the room, and she sighed after doing a small physical exam.

"Do you have any further idea how the situation is on their end?"

Ryra nodded her head and smiled.

"Everyone has been working very diligently to finding the way out from both ends. Unfortunately, it seems we're stuck from our end. Until we find the main control server with Akihiko Kayaba, there is absolutely nothing we can do to rescue everyone from our end of investigation. Otherwise, on their end it sounds they had made some progress to clearing that man's requirements set by him. Clear his game is their goal to getting out from their end. I've received that much. It's still going to take some time to have a full understanding of the situation on their end. Asuna-chan is sleeping currently in confirming her vital signs. She was very busy and pushing herself a lot yesterday, so I can only assume she was working hard on her end to work her way out. I could connect you to send a message to her, but that should wait until another day when she is awake. Give her today to get her much needed sleep."

Ryra orchestrated every word beautifully to ensure that Yuuki-san didn't know the full situation.

"Y-you can send messages back and forth with their end? That's...!"

Ryra nodded her head, only confirming that much was enough.

"It isn't a stable connection, and often the message doesn't fully connect, which is why you haven't been contacted to know the circumstances inside. We aren't fully certain, and it was likely to waste your time if we invited you here before we have a stable connection. I've learned as much as I know by having a more stable connection with Ana. She has been doing a major part in leading and ensuring the medical and health state of as many people as she can influence despite her red grade social anxiety. She has also confirmed that Asuna-chan has partnered up with five other patients under this hospital's care for a leading team in clearing through from their end. Asuna-chan is showing quite the impressive strength. Ah, I suppose this might be something to share with your husband as well, seeing as he was dismissed from the hospital on a sour note last time. Asuna-chan is confirmed to also be in a wonderful budding relationship with one of the people on their leading team. I personally fully support their relationship so long as they are responsible about it and consider their positions within the game and getting out later on. This much I can fully confirm, as Ana has been leading their team often, teaching them much about anything from strategy and combat, as well as providing the equipment they need to safely proceed further. There is nothing to worry about, Yuuki-san."

Ryra checked over the vital signs with Asuna one more time, still confirming Asuna was completely asleep. There was a little sign of dream in her sleeping state, a minor show of romantic emotion fluttering for a millisecond. Ryra was happy whenever she saw that pure, genuine romantic heart rate pop up on the screens.

"That's..."

Asuna's mother was near completely speechless from the revelation of the situation as far as Ryra knew for the other side.

"Well then...let me know when it will be possible for me to talk to Asuna as soon as it's available please. I need to tell her something from myself and her father. I suppose you should know since you're involved after your conversation with him last time he came here. I also came with the documents in case if at this time you are ready for this."

She pulled a thick bunch of documents, though not too impressive, nor too miniscule from her business bag on the opposite arm from her purse, and she passed it over to Ryra. Ryra couldn't understand even a single bit of the Japanese writing on the page, but the title thankfully had English translation. The documents were legal papers for adopting Asuna. Ryra stared at those words for five whole seconds before looking up to Asuna's mother.

"As much as it's such a disgrace...you were right. We have no reason to continue raising Asuna if we aren't going to treat her as a child born of us. Should she agree to it and you confirm it with signing the papers, we will not protest to you adopting her from our family to yours. No other motivations exist in our action than the guilt for realizing our treating her as an employee, or as you said, slave, instead of a growing child. You can support her as a normal parent should."

Ryra shook her head after hearing the reasoning behind the handing over of the adoption papers.

"You see, there's still a problem if you're thinking like that. She's your daughter. You, her mother, gave birth to her. Brought her into this world. It's your responsibility from the start to raise her as best possible. That doesn't mean pushing on her all of the things you wanted to do with your life. It means guiding her along a path where she might make some mistakes, but she would learn more about herself. She's doing that in Sword Art Online every day right now. On her own. Because of an impulse to use her brother's NerveGear. I have confirmed with her teachers that while she had been brilliant and doing well in her classes, there was little to no interest from her end of the lessons. She simply made her grades. A child should aim for something they will be happy or satisfied with doing, instead of pushed into a cubicle and forced to do paperwork for fourteen hours a day. Asuna has a lot of talent, a lot of intelligence and ambition, and she's only realizing this and learning more about herself every day she's in there. If not for Sword Art Online, I assume it's highly likely she would still be suffering in silence, listening to everything you and your husband tell her to do. You're forcing your ideals on her, when she just needs a little freedom. This may be Japan, but even in Japan there's some wiggle room for finding and doing something you love. For me, I love being a doctor. Maybe she'll follow in my profession, only she knows what she'll decide. It's for her to decide though. It's not your decision to hand her over to the next person who says they'll take care of her. It's up to her if she decides it's better for herself that she should have a new situation at this point. I will keep the documents, and will have Ana talk to her when she gets the chance. Until we get a good confirmation with a good amount of thought into it, then we'll go over Asuna-chan's decision."

Ryra's words were like stings to every sensitive place exposed to the air. Asuna's mother didn't know what to say to Ryra. In the end she stared at her, and wondered just what kind of person Ryra was to rile herself and her husband up so much with such confidence. The explanation from her husband had been that Ryra had been fierce enough to believe she had any kind of authority behind her. There was also the extended wisdom Yuuki-san was currently facing.

Ryra sighed, and walked over to Asuna, combing her fingers through a strand of her hair and tucking it safely to the side so that it wouldn't be damaged whenever Asuna would wake from Sword Art Online.

"I need to get to work. We will talk again, Ryra-sensei."

Asuna's mother left the room with a swift retreat. Ryra could feel the stares of some of the employees in the hall staring at her with bewilderment at how Ryra had acted toward that woman. Ryra was honestly exhausted from talking to her like that. She almost wanted the excuse her throat was growing weak from talking so much to take a break and be nice and silent like Ana normally was, but she was incredibly busy.

There had been a lot of work into ensuring who was safe to inform about there being a connection so they could converse with their families, and so that the information of conversing outside of Sword Art Online wasn't too spread out within the game. There was a lot of work ensuring the safety of the people within the game. There was a lot of work with legal issues because of how long it was going to take to get the patients out of the game, and how the hospital system in Japan could at most support those inside of the game for a total of two years. A little more if some of the patients wouldn't make it until the end. It was all because of the consideration of whether legally alive or not. Only Ana out of Ryra's patients for the Sword Art Online incident would be given the axe, since younger adults and teenagers couldn't be abandoned by the government. Ana still wasn't a Japanese citizen by law. Neither was Ryra. They lived in Japan, owned their own space within Japan, but they didn't have full citizenship. Rightfully, at any point the government could say they could no longer support Ana's expenses of living within the hospital, and tell Ryra to pull the plug on her.

Ana's life was in an incredibly terrible situation. The only thing that could save her, would be if Ryra could finally get a positive pregnancy test out of her. If there was confirmed to be a baby growing inside of her, then even after the baby or babies were born, the Japanese government couldn't force Ryra to kill her at any point until Ana either passed away, or made it out of the game with everyone else. Because to Japan, Ana was the only legal parent, even though Ryra was also a biological parent to the children Ana would give birth to.

Ryra returned hurriedly to Ana's room to get another check on whether or not she could keep Ana safe in her care. To check if Ana was pregnant.

Ryra had almost completely forgotten as she arrived at the room, that while Ana's life was at risk if she wasn't pregnant, Ryra was also desperate in a large part of her to be a parent with Ana. She was desperate to have and care for their children. Ryra also wondered on a possibility. What if. If since Ana was the one pregnant, and while she was full diving into the game, would the minds of their children also be loaded into Sword Art Online?

Ryra shook her head, trying to clear such a terrifying thought from her head as she prepared another pregnancy test to check Ana's state within, even though physically she wasn't at the point to show it. Ana was already being given one of the more rich feeding IVs to help along her pregnancy and help confirm it.

Ryra nearly trembled as she performed the test on Ana. It was the second time of the day already. Apparently, out of the forty times Ryra had tried, it took the forty first try to confirm. Ana was pregnant. Ryra was beyond excited to have the symbol confirming pregnant on the test and registering it into the patient information. That, then Ryra's anticipation to learn more. Through ultrasound later, through all other required processes find out more and more about their children. Would they be male, or female? Would they be one of each? Ryra completely forgot that the biological mixture for two females to be parents to a child, the child would always turn out female. No matter how many children they would have, they would be female. At most, the differences would be in whether the children were more like Ana, or more like Ryra. Ryra would be happy with whichever way it went.

Something occurred to Ryra as she was thinking what kind of appearances their children would have. The lack of male presence in their lives recently. All men Ryra dealt with were either unconscious Sword Art Online patients, or men from the medical staff of the hospital. There had been very few male visitors for the Sword Art Online patients. There weren't any men present around Ana in the game to her knowledge. It was only women, only feminine presence all around them. Ryra hoped soon, that maybe Ana would take the chance and help a male within the game. There was no real reason to the hope. Ryra just wanted to put some balance in the air instead of being swamped with the estrogen of all the women around.

With a shake of her head, Ryra placed a hand gently on Ana's belly, knowing that their pregnancy was a success. Ryra was excited for the pregnancy to continue, but she was depressed by a set of thoughts. The thoughts that Ana wouldn't be awake outside of the game in time to give birth naturally. That she would have to perform a c-section surgery on Ana to deliver their children. That at best, Ana would only be able to see from whatever perspective they could manage show her through the video calling system established between them as Ana's body gave birth at the end of nine months.

An alert from the pager distracted Ryra from making the call to Ana, to let her know the result, that she was pregnant. Ryra wanted to tell her that more than anything at the moment, but when Ryra heard that she had visitors for Ana at the nurse station, the distraction drew her mind blank. Who could it be? Who would it be? Would her parents have decided to come after Ryra told them Ana was inside of the game? Or was there someone else who visited? Who else would have reason to visit Ana though? Ana wasn't connected to a lot of people, Ryra knew this fact.

As Ryra walked the hall with her mind in a cloud of confusion, she arrived at the nurse station only to see unfamiliar adults in their thirties, with a child about ten years of age between them. The child, just from a look had long pretty hair which was so similar to Ana, Ryra thought perhaps they were cousins to Ana's family Ryra hadn't met...

"Ryra-sensei, these people keep saying they want to meet the patient with the name Ana-san..."

The nurse at the counter was having difficulty talking to the English only visitors they had at the counter. Ryra shook her head before those people turned to her when they recognized the name of the doctor they had been hearing about since arriving. The child between the parents who turned to Ryra, she could only say after one look at her face that it was Ana's face on that little girl. She was bright and cheerful in most of her appearance, but there was confusion as well, and curiosity with all of the unfamiliar atmosphere around her.

Ryra took a deep breath and she had to remind herself, speak English with these people.

"Hello, I'm doctor Ryra, the head overseer of the youth and young adult section of Sword Art Online patients, and also the doctor caring for Ana, who you are here to meet. Are you ready to go see her right away?"

The Canadians sighed in relief when they finally heard a familiar and understandable language.

"You...you're Ryra...Ryra-sensei? What does Ryra mean? What does sensei mean?"

The adorable voice of the young girl asking those questions made Ryra's heart feel it was melting. Truly, a child-like version of Ana was her every weakness, the adorable sense she gave off absolute.

"Ryra is my name. In English, it means garden. Sensei, is a Japanese title, like doctor, used for people like teachers, doctors, respected artists, among other respected professionals. What's your name?"

Ryra was put into such a friendly mood, just having that adorable child asking her questions and being wholly fascinated by the answers.

"My name is Anabelle! Mama and Papa taught me I'm named after the person we're her to visit."

Anabelle was almost too cute with the enthusiasm she introduced herself. With the answer, Ryra looked to the parents standing on either side of Anabelle, and she smiled.

"Well, follow me then. Thank you for visiting her. Ana is still unconscious from our end, so we'll have to talk to her in a specific method. I have something I remembered I need to tell her. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

The small talk along the way to Ana's room was pleasant to Ryra. She hadn't been so calm since Ana was first trapped in Sword Art Online.

"Thank you for your concern. We had hired a linguistic specialist guide to help us around. When we arrived at the hospital, he told us where to go since we asked to come in on our own. He was very helpful. Which reminds me, his accent was still very thick with his Japanese, so it was sometimes a little difficult understanding his English. You must originally be English?"

The mother had taken over the conversation, and as she finished asking the question, they arrived at Ana's room.

"I'm also from Canada. Ana and I live together here in Japan. We've been here for two years, and I've been trying my best to try and give her back her vision. She might be willing to use the virtual eyes to see you if she knows who you are, so be sure to let her know. Otherwise, she has been very careful in there to not use her eyes, so that her other perception doesn't grow clouded and weak when she eventually gets out of there."

Anabelle swayed side to side a little, having so much energy that she wanted desperately to let out. She had been taught well to be polite though, so she was only expressing her boundless energy by bouncing the bit she did.

As the parents and Anabelle entered the room behind Ryra, Anabelle hopped up to try and see Ana, but the bed frame hid Ana's face from sight and Anabelle was still short. Anabelle pouted for the shortest moment Ryra could imagine, then she brightened up as she was brought to Ana's bedside, and Ana could mostly be seen from the side even at her height. Anabelle was in awe of the figure who appeared to be fully asleep on the bed. Ryra started out the connection with Ana, telling her that she should use English, not Japanese, because she had English visitors...Ryra didn't tell who she felt every hint pointed the people out to be in the text message to Ana. Seconds later, Ana opened the call with Ryra and Ryra immediately felt the dread of how Ana usually handled these calls regardless lately, not using her voice at all.

"Please use your voice. The child might not be to your vocabulary level yet in language..."

Ana typed some question marks, and Ryra sighed.

"Well, time for introductions. I've just connected with Ana through this tablet so we can video chat with her."

Ryra aimed the screen to the family, and they all sat down in provided chairs to look at the screen. Anabelle stood between the chairs and looked at the screen at a comfortable level. Her eyes practically sparkled when she saw Ana with the visor covering her eyes.

"Why is she wearing that big thing on her face, Mama?"

Anabelle's question was innocent, and surprisingly her voice alone was enough to convince Ana to hide or unequip it. Anabelle smiled wide when she turned back.

"Is Ana sleepy? Why do you have your eyes closed?"

Anabelle's parents were letting Anabelle direct the flow of the conversation.

"Ah! Right! Ryra...sensei! She said introduce ourselves. We already know your name, so I'm Anabelle! Mama and Papa say they named me after you. It's nice to meet you, Ana."

Tears immediately fell down Ana's face, and she opened her eyes, revealing the blind appearance those eyes held, and she took in the appearance of the child and adults on the other side of the communication. Ana didn't know what the adults looked like, but the moment she heard the woman speak, she knew they were the people who adopted her first born child. Her daughter who would be ten years of age in five months.

"Hello, Ana. Sorry for surprising you like this. We felt this was our responsibility. To introduce her to you. We meant to wait until she was older, but she's quite smart and mature for her age. She really takes after you after all. When we heard that you were trapped inside of that game...well, the first thought was to give you this chance to meet her. Maybe it would help you find the strength to make it out of there. Is this okay with you?"

Ana blinked repeatedly, trying to get the virtual tears out of her eyes and clear her fake virtual vision so she could see the people on the other side. The adults beside Anabelle both looked very kind and warm. They were good parents to Anabelle, she could tell right away. Anabelle...looked adorable. Ana's heart ached to see her daughter on the other side of the communication.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? I learned a while ago that tears can be a good thing...are yours good?"

Ana nodded her head and smiled to Anabelle.

"I'm...just so happy to finally meet you, Anabelle."

Ana felt her heart wrench in pain. She wanted desperately to be on the other side of the communication and meet her properly, but she also had to be careful. Ana didn't know how much those adopted parents intended to let Anabelle know about Ana.

The father spoke up next, revealing how much they were ready to let Anabelle know.

"Anabelle, you know how your friend in school, Kailey doesn't live with her birth parents? Ana is your birth mother. We promised her we would take good care of you and became your parents when she was too young to raise you herself. Ana is an incredible woman who is very strong, and you more than deserve to get to know her."

Anabelle smiled as she heard everything. She cried a little herself, facing her adopted parents before turning back to Ana and laughing a little roughly.

"I knew it as soon as I saw. Ana is Mama Ana. Because kids like me usually look like our mamas and papas, but I don't look like Mama or Papa at all. Mama Ana looks just like me, but...like Ryra-sensei's age!"

Ana smiled and laughed softly, brushing the last of her tears away.

"Ryra sensei is my fiancee. Do you know what that is, Anabelle?"

Anabelle's tears near vanished at her excitement.

"Mama Ana and Ryra-sensei are both gonna be mamas?"

Ryra smiled. She was beyond happy hearing how positive the conversation was going. She decided to add in what she had intended to tell Ana before she heard of the visitors.

"We really are going to be mamas together. Ana is pregnant right now. That was a very important thing that I was going to tell her before I was told you were here."

Anabelle's adopted parents were surprised, but they weren't at all against Anabelle knowing such complicated things. Apparently Anabelle was just that knowledgeable as she added onto her surprise.

"Are Mama Ana and Mama Ryra both my real mamas?"

Ryra shook her head.

"Just Ana. She worked very hard to bring you into the world. We're both working very hard now though to bring more family into the world. What would you think of having a little sister?"

Anabelle's excitement was uncontainable as she hopped over onto Ryra's lap.

"I'll finally have a little sister!"

Anabelle was boundlessly happy, and the adopted parents only smiled as they saw her expressing the greatest happiness she'd ever had.

"I'm not pregnant, Ana is. Do you want to snuggle with her a little?"

Ryra pat Anabelle's head as she showed a lot of enthusiasm for becoming an older sister. Anabelle nodded her head, to which Ryra stood lifting her up easily and pointed the camera showing their end and mouthing to Ana how excited she was to be holding Ana's first born child. Ryra set Anabelle down gently on the bed beside Ana, and she told Anabelle right away.

"You have to be very careful though. If the helmet on her head is removed, she'll be in danger. Okay?"

Anabelle nodded her head again and she snuggled against Ana's side.

Ryra looked on, Ana's side of the communication also seeing the scene of Anabelle snuggling with her. Within Sword Art Online, she shouldn't be able to feel what happens to her body outside, but she felt a warmth she'd nearly forgotten cling to her. Anabelle, her first born, was as wonderful as she hoped she would be if Ana would ever get to meet her. So full of love, strength and wisdom she inherited from Ana. Ana felt that even if Anabelle would continue living in Canada after everything with the adopted parents, she would still be happy. She had the feeling that Anabelle would stay in her life however she could, driven by the interest of being with people who love her.

"Mama Ana is so warm...let's talk a bunch, okay Mama Ana?"

Ana smiled and hummed a confirmation. Ryra noticed that the adopted parents wanted to talk with her. Ryra set down the tablet so that Ana and Anabelle could easily continue talking together without Ryra needing to hold the camera for them to view each other.

Ryra led the adopted parents out to her office, where she closed the door behind her and waited for them to tell her something more.

"I'm so happy Anabelle is handling it so well. And you're both so happy..."

The mother expressed her happiness with the situation, but there was something more to their visit, and Ryra realized it with the tone the father spoke in next.

"We told Anabelle that this was all just to meet Ana, but there's more. I have cancer, and our income can't support raising her anymore. We heard from Ana's parents when we tried to contact her normally, about her being in a relationship here in Japan, and we had the hope that we would be able to give Anabelle the chance to live with her birth mother. If we couldn't, then we would have her live with Ana's parents back in Canada. When we heard about the Sword Art Online incident here from Ana's parents, we decided to book a flight immediately and give Anabelle the chance to meet her mother. We were terrified of the possibility there being only a gravestone to visit, but this is nearly the best outcome. Would...would you and Ana be ready to take Anabelle into your lives?"

Ryra was stunned. She poked the skin of her fingers to check if she was dreaming or not.

"At this moment it isn't exactly the best circumstances..."

"Oh, we didn't mean right away. I understand how busy you must be here in the hospital taking care of all your patients and Ana as well now that we've met you. I am curious about how you and Ana are both the parents of her current pregnancy though...anyway, our goal with this was to establish some connection with Anabelle and her proper parents, so that when the time would come, Anabelle would understand when she would start living with you. We understand how baseless it is to assume Ana even make it out at this point with how many have passed away, but I have the feeling for certain that Anabelle will have a wonderful future with you two, from the moment we heard your voice. You and Ana are such strong and wonderful people. We have every confidence in your ability to make it through this. For your own sakes, and for Anabelle's sake."

Ryra was warmed immensely from the kindness of the people in front of her. The people that she had spited for taking Anabelle away from Ana, turned out to be such wonderful people. She took in a deep breath to ground herself, and sighed.

"Well, I'd be more than happy, and I can't imagine a version of reality where Ana would turn down such an opportunity to have Anabelle in our lives. You'll be the first to know when Ana gets out of there. And as far as us both being the parents of her current pregnancy, I hope you're not too surprised...certain marrow in the female body can be modified and used as a substitute for sperm to impregnate another woman. With this it's also possible for a woman to have a child where they are the only parent. The proof of Ana being pregnant with our child, would be this scar on my hip."

Ryra pulled back her overcoat and lifted her top enough to reveal the scar which signalled where the marrow came from.

"Incredible..."

The two were highly impressed by the discovery, but shook their heads with a smile to each other before looking at Ryra again.

"We have every confidence that this is the right decision for her. Thank you. For being everything we hoped for and more."

Ryra was happy that they were so accepting. Canada was already known for having a majority of the population being accepting toward nearly anything different in regard to relationships. While the relationship between Ryra and Ana was something especially rare, it was also like any other relationship that works. It was a wonderful thing that made people who understood it, happy for those involved finding their happiness together.

Signalling that they were ready to return to Anabelle and Ana, Ryra led them back to Ana's room and they witnessed something they could only appreciate. Anabelle slept soundly beside Ana. A page to Ryra broke their peaceful moment a little. The patient Ryra had first warned not to return to the game, Jun, was having some vital sign imbalances.

"Visit for as long as you like. I personally wouldn't want to pull them apart right now after seeing them like that. I have to go see another patient. Take care of yourselves, and we'll be in touch. Here's my contact information. I can send the application we used today to a computer or other device if you let Anabelle use them and she can keep in touch with Ana this way as well if you allow it. Just something to consider. Contact me and let me know where to send the application to if you make that decision."

Ryra was interrupted by the paging again. She tapped the button once and responded in Japanese to the person on the other end.

"Give me thirty seconds! I'm with another patient!"

The parents were bewildered at how fluent and little they understood Ryra with her perfect Japanese.

"Again, take care. I hope to talk some more in the future."

Ryra hurried off to answer the call, and the atmosphere in Ana's room was calming enough, that those who adopted Anabelle, fell asleep watching Anabelle sleep beside Ana. The sight of a mother and child together in their sleep was such a calming and peaceful thing after all.


	18. Chapter 18

~Flustered~

When Ana returned to the inn that evening, she was still flustered by what happened on the day she intended to relax. She certainly managed to relax a lot. And meet her firstborn child. And find out that she was pregnant for certain with Ryra. And later finding out after Anabelle and the adopted parents left that after Ana gets out of the game she would have the chance to have Anabelle in her life the way she had missed out on.

Anabelle was everything that Ana hoped for. Happy, full of excitement, strong, understanding and intelligent for her age. She even found out that Anabelle was following in Ana's hobby of archery. Anabelle was incredible, and Ana would have the chance to have her in her life when she would get out of Sword Art Online. She had even more reason to get out of the game now.

Ana was flustered enough, she nearly forgot to eat as she walked through the main section of the inn up to the room where everyone she wanted to tell were sleeping. She forgot they were asleep, and she had made it so that they would be asleep until the next morning. She pinched her cheek a little to catch herself and try straightening out her thoughts. She turned to head downstairs, and was met with another realization. She still had her virtual eyes open and she was using them. Another fierce shake of her head, and she returned the visor to her face, closing off vision from it, and she let her perception fill everything in again.

She made her way back to the kitchen, and she felt exhausted as she made her dinner. Just a simple curry she had the ingredients for. She made enough that she was groaning at herself for being so air headed after the series of surprises through the day. Ana decided that she would use the rest of the curry for a curry sandwich for lunch the next day since there was so much, and she prepared ahead of time. There was still some curry left, which she was tempted to just throw out. Her stomach protested the idea of throwing the food out though. Ana begrudgingly took her dish and the remaining curry out into the dining area of the inn, and she was surprised to feel a very odd presence. Somehow, they didn't feel like another player, but they definitely weren't a regular NPC of the game. The body was female, robust, tall and apparently exhausted. Ana shook her head, and sat across from the person, putting the extra curry in front of her before setting in to eat her own food.

"Mmm?"

The sound of sniffing from the character in front of her caught Ana a little off guard, but the questioning tone of the hum which followed gave her the sense the person was possibly not aware it was food in front of her. Ana pushed a text window to her, and the character sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Eh? Dinner? Food?"

The name belonging to the character in front of Ana, was Strea. It was an interesting name, Ana thought. When Strea's questioning voice asked about what Ana had messaged her about, Ana waited until Strea gathered the sense to look at Ana, and at that point she motioned to the plate of curry in front of Strea. Strea looked at it with confusion, as if she didn't recognize what it was.

"Might want to eat it before it loses it's heated effect. Curry is best enjoyed hot after all."

Ana ate a bite of hers, and Strea understood, scooping a spoonful into her mouth and gulping it down. Strea had to take a few seconds to register what she just consumed. The spice and heat of what she just ate was...well, it was something she should have been more careful with. Ana sighed a little and continued carefully eating her own. Strea eventually learned and she truly enjoyed the curry.

"So good..."

Strea sighed in satisfaction after finishing the curry Ana let her have.

"Nice to meet you. May I ask how you got to this floor? I haven't activated the teleport gate yet, so unless you aren't a player here like me, it's confusing to meet you here."

"Ah!"

Strea seemed to realize something. She stood up and turned to leave, but turned back to bow and thank Ana first before bolting off out of the inn. Ana was surprised by such a strange character. Was she just another very talented player who managed to clear to the floor? Or was she a very unique NPC?

Ana decided that too much had happened through the day, and returned upstairs. She went to bed in her own room, and pondered on how full her experiences had been. Her life felt so full, it was nearly bursting. She was used to living alone in the apartment and she was completely fine with it because of the frequent visits from Ryra. Now, there was suddenly so much ready to fill her life when she got out of the game. Inside of the game, she was surrounded by children ten years younger than her. She was always busy. Her anxieties were only growing stronger, and she needed more time to herself truly. She was conflicted with how to feel about how full life would be after getting out of the game. She would have Anabelle in her life, she would be raising her first child when she would return out of the game. She would be raising any other children she would give birth to as well when she would emerge from the game. As the reality sunk in how busy a mother she was going to be when she would get out of Sword Art Online, another call signalled, and she answered it right away. Another call from Ryra.

"I forgot to tell you something today."

Ana sighed and rolled over so that the projection would show she was in bed.

"Yes?"

The text box responded to Ryra.

"Asuna's mother came in again today, and...well, guess what kind of documents she brought in."

Ana sighed and signalled she was about to roll over. She didn't want to guess. There was already so much happening in their lives. She could easily make a guess it had something to do with the topic before regarding what might happen with them and Asuna. It was very possible it had something to making their home life even more full.

"Wait wait! This is...well, she handed over adoption papers. For us to adopt Asuna. I get it if you're starting to feel overwhelmed by how busy home's going to be when you get out, and I still haven't confirmed anything. It's Asuna's decision to make as far as I expressed to her mother. Today was so busy...I just...I kind of hope that this all would be a good thing on your end. Aren't you happy to have the idea of more company at home? It'll be less lonely while I'd be at work, and eventually when they're old enough to move out, it'd be lonely again anyway, so why not have a full life now, right?"

Ana sighed and faced upward again. She showed her exhaustion.

"I'm still having a difficult time with my anxiety. I want to believe that my anxiety won't treat Asuna, Anabelle or our children as reasons to be anxious, but I'm worried about it regardless. No matter how much I get used to them, I still have a difficult time because of my anxiety with everyone else. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them. It's my anxiety that's at fault. I want to be able to be with everyone easily, but I'm so worried it won't be easy."

Ryra felt a little depressed over reading that Ana wasn't handling her anxiety well at all. Even in a virtual environment, Ana was still plagued with her biggest weakness. A weakness which only grew with time and connection with others. Ryra was worried about bringing up the topic with Asuna when she would be awake the next day. She was hoping that Asuna would be unsure, and want time to decide, but it could go any way. Asuna could decide she wanted to be adopted by Ana and Ryra. She could decide she wanted to return to living with her parents. It might even be decided by finding out about Ana's worries. She might be completely indecisive and it might become a problem. Ryra didn't know how to talk further about it.

"Well...we should let Asuna know as soon as possible, so that she can take her time to decide."

Ana knew what the answer was going to be if taking into account how well her relationship with Kirito was going. An immediate yes to being adopted, because of the history she had with her parents, and the likelihood they would deny Asuna the opportunity to continue her relationship with Kirito. Ana could imagine that the answer might develop more as time would press on with their time inside of Sword Art Online, but she couldn't imagine Asuna deciding to go back to living with her parents after understanding herself and how much they held her off from living her own life. They were unlikely to change, so the only answer would be to go with Ana and Ryra in the end.

Ana sighed again and put a little effort into sending a final response.

"You and I both know that in the end, unless Asuna has some kind of self-depreciating mindset hidden in her, she would end up choosing to live with us. I really have no issue with us ending up taking care of her. My only issue is my anxiety. I hope for all of our sakes, some method is discovered while we're in here to cure my anxiety. We both know that therapy does nothing to mine, and medicine only makes me sick. Other methods so far which help others, haven't worked on me no matter how much we believed and tried them. Sorry for being all pessimistic Ryra, but I'm too exhausted to keep talking about this. Maybe see if you can find some other leads or information on fighting anxiety on your side while we keep working our way out of this game. Now, I need to get some sleep. You should too. Good night Ryra. I love you."

Ana ended the call from her end, and plunged right into her sleep, while Ryra was faced with the weight of the real issue that would happen when the game would be cleared. Ana's anxiety, if it wouldn't get better, would be at its worst, and she might not be able to handle being around other people at all. Ryra needed to get to work on figuring out a counter measure right away.

While Ryra toiled away through the night and did as her usual slaving for her patients and work in the hospital, Ana slept through the night, woke early, and had breakfast ready for everyone else on the third floor who would show up. There was a thought in Ana's head that the mysterious Strea would show up again like a stray after being fed once, but she didn't. Everyone had their breakfast, and went to the teleport gate to activate it, none of them realizing that they had missed a whole day the entire time. When people noticed the third floor was open and started teleporting into the plaza, there were shouts of surprise that the team had been missing for so long. Ana pulled the team along out of the teleport plaza, and urged them to just go along with her to scope out the new floor, get familiar and explore.

As the team followed Ana forward, an incredibly loud shout pointed out the weapons that everyone had on them. Apparently a weapon design nerd to some degree, she charged toward them and started checking everyone's weapons. Ana noticed the name belonging to the person, and she had mild interest in her at the start. The girl backed off a little when she noticed Ana was paying attention to her. It was rare for someone to be able to tell Ana was specifically paying attention to them with the new visor covering her eyes, so the girl was somewhat impressive already.

"Are...aren't you the famous crafter in here? You designed all of this equipment then? And all of the weapons?"

Ana nodded her head, everyone stopping and looking at her. The girl with short brown hair who was about Asuna's height, with freckles decorating her face and her brown eyes, her somewhat strong complexion, was someone that really caught the eye for those who used them. Ana was more interested in her energy. There was a heavy desire to craft coming from her, and somehow, Ana felt that her time would be better spent teaching her and unlocking her bonuses in crafting instead of exploring for the day. For the time being, Ana had promised to go with the team, so she invited Lisbeth to the party.

"H-huh?! Why are you inviting me to your party?! Isn't there too huge a level difference?!"

Ana shook her head side to side and sent a reply.

"The famous text window...!"

Lisbeth looked over Ana's reply.

"Level difference doesn't matter. I need someone to back me up with crafting sometimes, and it's already becoming difficult keeping up with all of the equipment maintenance. If I train you up and we level you up a decent amount to catch up, then you could help take a load from my crafting. Just weapons would be what I've been aiming for since the rest of the crafting is less intensive. If you're interested in working on equipment like this, this is a chance to get familiar with it, and I can show you a few good things later today. This morning at least, I want to explore this floor."

Lisbeth was convinced, and the accept button was pressed to join the party. She continued to look over the specifics of the equipment everyone was wearing. From their clothing, to their armour, and from their accessories to their weapons, everything was high quality, and far more impressive than anything the game's basic design promoted. Lisbeth was particularly interested in the magic swords. They were after all, something that nobody else knew about yet. Lisbeth was most interested in Ana's set specifically. As they continued on, battling a few monsters in the fields as they filled Ana's mapping, Lisbeth gained as much understanding as possible from looking, and she still didn't understand how the magic swords were in the game. It was supposed to be a no magic game. Yet, Sachi and Asuna clearly used healing magic, while Ana, Kirito, Leafa and Yuuki were able to reach longer range with their magic swords. Even more strange, the fact that bows were actually working within the game, and with Sinon and Kirito, they actually used bow skills. As far as the bow, Ana was still the most impressive to her though. No skill used, and a single arrow took down all but area boss monsters. Even then, it was easy for the bow users to reduce the area bosses to nothing in seconds, before they could even reach the party. Lisbeth witnessed in awe the supernatural force of their battling within the game. She was completely interested in making such powerful weapons. Beyond excited even.

After clearing the third area boss, Ana gave Kirito the party lead, and sent the mapping data along with a message about Kirito knowing how Ana did her mapping. Ana then turned to Lisbeth, and Lisbeth discovered she had been kicked from the party and invited to party with only Ana. She confusedly accepted the invitation to party with only Ana, and was surprised when Ana started leading them back. Ana started sending a lot of information on her crafting capability to Lisbeth, and Lisbeth only became more and more nervous of what she got herself into with the massive amount of work Ana's crafting posed. Only one of the many crafts that Ana was doing, would be entrusted to Lisbeth it seemed, but Lisbeth was concerned about Ana the more she thought about it. Wasn't Ana staying too busy with also going out and exploring with the rest of the team she was with? Sure, she was the most powerful of the team and it had little to do with her equipment, but she was also doing so much and was such a high level compared to her, Lisbeth was daunted by the gap between their capabilities.

Ana took Lisbeth straight to the NPC crafting area, and set to crafting a bunch of gear. She didn't instruct one thing to Lisbeth, so she scrambled to try and understand what Ana was doing so that she would be ready to at least try and replicate what Ana did, but she was utterly confused. Crafting everything literally by self design instead of letting the game do everything? That was the biggest question Lisbeth had. Especially with how fast Ana crafted every kind of gear, from every clothing type, to every leather armour type, to every metal armour type, every sword type, every axe type, every spear type, everything. Every little thing was made. In the end, another specific set of gear for crafting was made, and given to Lisbeth right away. Ana kept the inventory of one of everything on hand herself.

"Put on your new crafting gear, and follow me. You're offering all of this to a special shrine I discovered on the second floor, and if you are already invested into crafting, offering all of this will give you bonuses to all of your crafting, possibly better than my metal crafting."

That text window still confused Lisbeth after she was placed into a light red and white metal battle dress crafting gear. Truly, the gear she wore was far better than what she had before, but it was also daunting the idea of fulfilling some kind of expectation from Ana. Did Ana even have expectations of Lisbeth at this moment? Lisbeth was utterly astonished and nervous of what Ana was doing. Ana led them again to the teleport plaza, and she warped them down to the second floor, out of town and to the forest, straight through uneven terrain which Ana had to slow down on because Lisbeth was getting caught on the brush of the forest along the way.

"How the heck does the famous blind player navigate this so perfectly?! And adding onto that, how the heck do you fire a bow without aiming?"

Ana stopped progressing for a second through the forest, and yet another text window appeared in front of Lisbeth.

"I have level twenty hearing within this game already, level eighteen advanced perception, and my other senses are minimum level fifteen. I can already experience this game better than most people with their vision intact. I don't need to see or aim when I know where my arrows will go."

Lisbeth was almost annoyed at how ridiculous Ana was. She was literally too perfect despite her imperfections. Lisbeth groaned and fell to her knees when they finally stopped at an opening in the forest, them having reached a small shrine with an offering pedestal. Suddenly, Lisbeth's inventory was being loaded full of other gear Ana had made before setting out.

"I'll test your ability to craft after you've acquired some decent buffs to your crafting traits. You should get plenty from here. This shrine gave me the ability to make those magic swords you're so interested in. As well, it gave me the shooting skill for using bow skills. I only use the game given skills on rare occasion, so it's only reassuring that I have the skills available if I ever need them. In any case, let's get to offering everything up. I still have a lot of materials and such from the second floor we could use to offer to this for you. I intend to check if this will give more after we reach floor five level of crafts to offer it, and so on from there. Every five floors. If you're interested in something similar to your crafting weapon for battle, I could even teach you how to craft the magic hammers as well. I have the feeling that you'll at least have all of the crafting perks from offering the weapons that I have, possibly more since I had plenty of perks go into my fighting ability. This is a very generous shrine."

Ana's explanation satisfied some of Lisbeth's curiosity, but she was still confused.

"Am I only offering the weapons then?"

Ana nodded her head and urged Lisbeth to get started at offering the weapons. Lisbeth was worried, and her worry confirmed that putting the first weapon on the pedestal, a magic sword, that the weapon disappeared. Lisbeth's vision was given a window, telling her she gained from offering the weapon on the pedestal. Since Lisbeth hadn't once used a sword type of combat, there wasn't a single perk given to use of weapons or skills of using similar type of weapons. She gained the ability to craft superior quality magic swords, and the ability to upgrade them up to ten times. Her magic swords would be fifteen times more durable, and the enchantments would be stronger than Ana's buff to the magic sword offered had.

Lisbeth became more and more curious the more weapons she offered to the shrine. Ana hadn't given her a bow to offer to the shrine, assumed because Ana was taking care of the bows. Lisbeth couldn't imagine making such a massive bow work. She didn't even really know how to create any of it, so how was she supposed to be expected to craft even the high quality level that Ana was making the weapons into?

"Stop thinking about it so much. I'll teach you how to make everything I gave you to offer the shrine. The armour set I gave you with the weapons for offering is more for whenever you decide to go out and gather materials yourself. A battle armour. I gave it now, so that you wouldn't mistakenly have battle armour on while offering the weapons. So that there was more chance you would get bonuses to your crafting instead of combat. You do have another magic hammer in your inventory you haven't offered, and you have your combat equipment set, so why not switch for those now and offer the magic hammer? I could easily make another magic hammer for you. Or you could make yourself a new hammer for battle, or for crafting, whichever you like. Just keep to your interest for the weapons, and do what you like. I'd like for us to work together."

Ana's words in the window in front of Lisbeth were clear. Ana hadn't gotten to know Lisbeth yet. She was only using the knowledge of Lisbeth's interest in weapons to bring them together. Then she proceeded to having Lisbeth sacrifice a powerful set of all the weapons in the game. It wasn't exactly a good way to grow close. More like drive a wedge between them. Learning that Ana was a bit awkward about it was what made Lisbeth proceed to laugh.

"Ana is truly a strange person! I was going to get mad if you were just aimlessly making me waste all of those, but I guess you're just...never mind. Let's head back and you should teach me how you made all of those instead of just doing it all at ridiculous speed."

Ana smiled and nodded her head. She waited for Lisbeth to offer up the last magic hammer in the new combat gear, and she proceeded to lead them back out through the forest. Lisbeth was still flustered by how Ana seamlessly traversed through the forest. It was definitely still strange that a blind person was so good at getting around. Even better than someone who could see.

After exiting the forest, it didn't take long to return to the town. Even when they returned to the town, they didn't go to the NPC crafting district there. Ana brought them up to the third floor, and led Lisbeth to the NPC crafting area there. Because the equipment was better with each floor. There, she taught Lisbeth one by one, how to craft each weapon. Lisbeth needed to practice at it, but she learned quickly. She was more and more interested in becoming as good as Ana at making weapons. She wanted to make weapons that Ana would use. With that motivation, the two set out and gathered items from the third floor, a new magic hammer made for Lisbeth by Ana for the time being bursting through the battles quite easily. Lisbeth couldn't believe how easy it was to defeat enemies when her level was still considerably low compared to Ana, but she was happy that she could somewhat support Ana while they gathered their new materials together.

When they returned in the evening, Lisbeth was surprised at the kind of gathering that they had at the inn the group were using. With conversation, properly meeting and introducing herself and learning about the team who surrounded Ana, they ate dinner together. That night, everyone had their own separate rooms. At least that was Ana's plan. Asuna and Kirito shared a room, which was startling to Lisbeth at first. While everyone else other than Ana shared a room. Lisbeth went along with the larger group, sharing the room for the night. She was heavily confused though. She had heard the group led a rather normal kind of life in the game, but was it really so normal?


	19. Chapter 19

~Lisbeth's Circumstances~

When she woke up, she was confused. It took her a few minutes to remember that she had been invited to the top group in Sword Art Online the day before by the one considered the real leader, Ana. Others from the group were also waking up as she woke up, so she remembered that she wasn't alone anymore. She was happy about it, but she also had strange feelings about it.

Yuuki was especially energetic in the morning, which caught Lisbeth off guard. Leafa and Sinon were rather close, which was strange to her. They did, but they didn't seem like family, which only made it more strange when they were talking to each other about what they would do when they get out of the game. Lisbeth just didn't understand them. Lisbeth noticed the nervous expression Sachi was making, the only person who was taking their time getting out of their bed as much as Lisbeth with her confusion. It also seemed Sachi was giving everyone their chance to use the space in the room before she would stand up. She was a very nervous person, as well as a very generous person. Lisbeth for some reason didn't like Sachi, but she wasn't totally sure of disliking her.

When Yuuki, Leafa and Sinon left the room, Lisbeth stood up from the bed, Sachi also standing from hers. Lisbeth went straight to her menu and switched her comfort wear for her combat gear. She was still a little miffed at how Ana had been so meticulous with everything. Everyone had their own designs for their gear. Everyone wore battle dresses, but they were all unique, instead of going by a template kind of style. Just how did she even have the time to design everything so much, especially with being blind? Wouldn't just going by the template be that much simpler?

Lisbeth questioned Ana's sanity, but she did have to admit that Ana's efforts and designs to everything made a huge difference in the people around her. It was easy to tell one person from another, everything they wore was comfortable and beautiful, everything suited to the person to the point that even swinging a sword felt just right to them. After all, without being able to feel just right with their equipment, none of them would be known so well for being the strongest team in the game.

To Lisbeth, it was impressive, as much as it was crazy for Ana to be so meticulous. Everyone was happy together, fighting toward the same goal. A person who could bring those kind of people together and all be peaceful was truly one of the most impressive. Ana's whole personality was impressive. That she could be socially awkward as well on top of being amazing in her combat, her leading, her strategies, craftsmanship, everything was meticulous and over the top amazing. If not for Ana, the people in the group could be anything from average solo players, to okay team players, or they might not have even made it to the third floor.

What caught Lisbeth off guard the most though, was the romantic relationship between Asuna and Kirito. Sure, if considering how it was accepted in many places around the world, it was still two girls together in a relationship. Two very beautiful girls in a relationship...who were both very talented and amazing in many ways...

She sighed and made her way out of the room, meeting up with everyone, Sachi following her out close behind to the restaurant section of the inn. There, food that definitely wasn't capable of being served by the NPCs at this point in the game was waiting for them. Yet another beautiful meal waited, and looked to have come straight from a high class restaurant in real life. Not something put together inside of a game.

Lisbeth expected that top level players in the game would be battle hardened, fierce warriors who struck fear and awe into the hearts of people from their presence alone, but all she felt from seeing the girls around her, was that they were lively, beautiful, cute, living normal lives within the game world, and having vanity like experiences, dining on great food, sleeping well every night, and getting along well. Ana wasn't perfect, as could be seen by her own nervousness being around so many people. Her social anxiety was famous as much as she was. She could raise the perfect raid party out of amateurs within the game, but no matter how amazing she was, she hadn't been able to handle fighting alongside the party she brought together because of her anxiety. To people who admired the talk of the magnificent person who was leading the charge out of the game so promisingly, hearing about her anxiety was a shot through the heart. Anxiety wasn't present in the telling of heroes in the past, not until well after the fact, picking away at what might have influenced little parts of the lives of those in the past. Anxiety was rarely brought up by the people around Lisbeth in real life as of late. She did have some stage fright as far as working at her family's store, but otherwise, she was happy with her life. Meeting such a hero inside of Sword Art Online like Ana, an amazing person with real disabilities in real life, keeping true to them within the game and still showing great skill in everything she touched, had always been a kind of dream to Lisbeth. To work with a hero.

That hero was tainted to her though. No matter how Lisbeth tried to wrap her head around it, she was disappointed. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she hadn't touched her breakfast, and she didn't realize the other people around her were trying to get her attention. It wasn't until one of Ana's famous message windows popped up in front of Lisbeth's vision, breaking a hole in her thoughts.

"Aincrad to Lisbeth. Are you not feeling well today? Need some rest? You still need to eat regardless, so get to that before you head to bed if you won't tag along for today's exploring of the floor."

Lisbeth shook her head and laughed awkwardly before sighing.

"I'm fine. Just...a little surprised. At how peaceful the strongest people in this game are basically living a normal life here."

Ana shook her head.

"I already told you yesterday. We are living as normal a life as possible so that when we return to our lives outside of the game, there won't be too much a difference. If it's a little nicer outside of fighting battles every day, that's fine too. Besides, everything we do has a purpose. Sleeping at an inn on this floor alone already gives another bonus to our capabilities over just the five percent to experience in crafting on the first and second floors. Eating a decent or better meal will provide mentally more strength than we'd be willing to put out with only something like the cardboard NPC bread sold on these floors every day. Everything has a reason, and if it looks like a normal life, then it's only better. Don't you feel comfortable? Don't think of this as some kind of generic hero story where one person could save the entire population trapped in here. No matter how good any one of us is, it takes more than one person to fight the battle of an army."

Everyone was looking at Ana after reading the last bit of the message to Lisbeth. Sinon had something to say about Ana's claim.

"One person can't clear the game alone? Are you certain about that? How about the original floor boss of floor two you defeated all on your own trying to save us? Wasn't it called the Wolverine Treant? Whereas we fought a Dusk Megamoth? Pretty certain your battle was even more difficult and you cleared that thing on your own. Of course if you keep staying overpowered throughout the game, it's very likely unless there's a lot of monsters in one boss room battle that you could clear the entire game. Then again, we might just be blowing our pride of you out of proportion."

Everyone was nodding their heads. Lisbeth hadn't heard of such a thing occurring... If Ana truly had taken down a floor boss on her own, what really was the point of her revealing her anxiety while training up a raid team? She had to remind herself one obvious thing that Sinon had just said. If it was only one monster, just a boss monster in the boss room, it could be entirely possible for Ana to defeat a boss monster on her own. To everyone's knowledge, a boss monster didn't scale in strength or hit points depending on the scale of how many people were present. It couldn't be confirmed or not. The fact of the matter that Lisbeth had to understand, was it would be entirely impossible for an undersize group to handle a boss room battle when there would be a lot of additional monsters, and definitely not as a lone player. No matter how amazing Ana was, too much was too much.

Lisbeth took a deep breath, looked at the delicious food in front of her and shovelled a big bite of the souffle omelet into her mouth. She decided. She might as well leave the brooding and disappointment in her heroes being normal to other people. She should just be her normal stupid happy self excited by weapon design and go along with her heroes in the game.

"Well, that didn't take very long. Finished thinking?"

Ana's message window earned a confident grin from Lisbeth.

"I just heard something pretty amazing only people of this group know. Imagine how everyone would be thinking if they heard you defeated a floor boss on your own?"

Lisbeth's teasing attitude was refreshing. It suited her much more than the over thinking type she had just been displaying. They were both her, and Ana could tell. Lisbeth was an observing type of person, but she was also a little greedy. Her greed was the part of her that sought to know more about weapons, while her observations were more caution. She was well rounded, in a sense.

Ana stood up from her seat, and quickly walked around the table, taking all of the empty dishes and taking them to the kitchen. Lisbeth was surprised by the sudden burst of speed and her exit out of nowhere. She couldn't put anything past Ana as far as capability, but her personality outside of her anxiety was also something remarkable. After all, Ana took care of everyone like a mother. She cared more than her own means of handling. Ana was the kind of person who lived to extend beyond her reach. Despite her own disabilities and anxieties, she loved people.

Ana didn't return from the kitchen for minutes. It definitely wouldn't take her long to just clean and put the dishes away. Asuna and Kirito, with the most concern over Ana taking so long, stood up and headed over. Just as they were about to enter the kitchen, the door opened and Ana was there. Ana was exhausted, and it was impossible to hide it. She couldn't even hold herself up on her feet. Asuna and Kirito caught her before she fell to the floor.

"What's wrong, Ana?!"

Asuna was immensely concerned.

"Can...can we have a moment alone? The...three of us?"

Asuna and Kirito looked at each other and nodded their heads.

"No problem. Let's...get you a room."

The two carried her to the inn room counter, and paid for her room fee before carrying her up the stairs. Ana had no strength in her to carry herself up the stairs. When they arrived in the room for her, placed her down on the bed, Ana set to trying to gather her breathing as best as possible. She was having a difficult time with her breathing? But she didn't really need to breathe in the virtual environment...

"Kirito...Thank you for being so helpful in leading whenever I can't be around to. You've been such a relief and a good reminder of my past. You're incredibly strong and I'm happy that I have been able to help you as much as I have. Don't worry, I just need some rest for now. I might even need to limit my interactions with everyone. My anxiety is just draining my energy this much...we have so many people in our group now. It's good that we have many people we can rely on, but it's truly bad for my health."

Ana continued breathing noticeably deep, and she turned her face to Asuna as soon as she knew Kirito had finished reading her message.

"Asuna, thank you as well. You've been helping Kirito, keeping her head straight and reminding her of important things. You take in all you learn very well. You even do it a little better than Ryra. If you ever do become a doctor, don't do it in a place where you can't have the time to be with your family. The people you love and want to be with are more important than filling a role and expectation in society. Regardless...I feel a little uneasy about bringing it up now, since Ryra and I promised to tell you together. Your mother visited the hospital again recently. She dropped off documents regarding you. Adoption documents. Your parents already filled out their part. Ryra and I want you to think about it. Really think about what you want in your life before accepting or denying what your parents have decided. For Ryra and I to adopt you into our family, or for you to try again with your family. I truly like the idea of welcoming you into our family. I think it would be great to have someone so wonderful at home when my daughter Anabelle comes home, and help look after the child or children I'm currently pregnant with. I am worried about my anxiety getting in the way there...but I just love people too much; love taking care of people too much to give up on this kind of path. Remember, we want you to think about this. Make a serious, well thought out decision on it. And I'm sorry. That your parents would even think of putting you up for Ryra and myself to adopt shows how irresponsible they are, and I'm beyond disappointed in them."

Kirito and Asuna were both crying while reading the messages. Ana felt her heart ache in response to seeing them so grief stricken when she just needed to rest from her anxiety. She sighed loud enough it snapped them out of their grief for a moment.

"Of course, Ana. Of course my answer is to take this chance. Though...if I'm taking this chance, then wouldn't calling you...Mom...be more accurate?"

Asuna sounded a little embarrassed. Only a little. She was flush in the face with excitement, and Kirito seemed to be swept into the mood.

"If Asuna chooses this, then if Asuna and I stay like this..."

Ana shook her head and shifted her face's direction to the ceiling.

"Take your time. Seriously. We're likely to be in here a long time. Choose wisely. Right now, it might seem like it's the best possible decision for you to make, but it might not seem that way later. If we really take our time making our way out of this, then you could be adults already, and Asuna could have emancipation from her family if relations with them don't go well. There would be little to no point in being taken into mine and Ryra's family. It still could be done then, but essentially you'd just have our family name and our legal situation extended to you. Kirito, you also need to think of it seriously. I fully support your relationship with Asuna. However, you both have to be serious and committed to each other. You were about to mention becoming in-law related, but that is a long way off, regardless. If Asuna does choose to be adopted into our family, I firmly believe in fully being an adult before such a thing as marriage can be considered. Even then, it wouldn't be possible in Japan because of something you should already know. It's why Ryra and myself are still only fiancees after all. As much as I keep on telling you to consider all of this seriously, enjoy your time here. Build your relationship. Use your time here wisely. I'll help as much as I can...but from today on, at most I can only imagine being able to handle a few of our group at a time. Such as...meeting in pairs. You two would make one. Leafa and Sinon would make another. As much as Sachi and Yuuki are so different, they would also make another pair. Then there's Lisbeth. Take care of her for me, okay? She has some circumstances I believe, that might make it difficult for her to warm up to our group."

Kirito and Asuna managed to dry their tears and wipe them away while Ana explained why to take everything seriously. They sometimes forgot that Ana was more than ten years older than them. She didn't look older, and she wasn't as tall as they expected when seeing a foreign person. They couldn't even consider Ana foreign though. She was so fluent, she might as well just have foreign ancestry and have grown up in Japan. But then, she also knew English. They hadn't heard her speak it yet...but they were waiting for a time that she would speak English. They had learned plenty of English in school, so with their temptation, they decided to ask.

"Can we hear you say something in English? You could just whisper too if that's easier. It would just be nice to hear your voice..."

Asuna's words were very convincing. Ana could tell that there was temptation for them to figure out whether she was foreign born or not. She closed her eyes and took a good breath. She turned to face them, and she opened her eyes to look at them. They truly were a sight of beauty together. A Japanese repeat of her and Ryra's relationship. She could only appreciate their appearances. She opened her mouth again, and let her whispered voice in English words tell them her current thoughts.

"I...really would be happy if you become part of my family, Kirito and Asuna. If all goes well, maybe when you're adults and we're all out of here, Ryra and I could take you to Canada for marriage."

Ana's words were crisp, clean English. She whispered those words, but they were still strong. Kirito and Asuna were stunned by part of what those words said as well. Ana suggested going to Canada together, for marriage. Just for Ana and Ryra completing their marriage? Or did her words also include Kirito and Asuna's bonding?

They looked at each other, and smiled. Ana was truly one of the most influential people they met. She was one of the reasons they had the strength to work on their relationship much at all. Ana encouraged them, and they were stronger for it overall. They learned so much from her, and they wanted to show her that she made the right choice in teaching them all she did.

"Thank you, so much, Ana."

Kirito's words were genuine and warm. Asuna readied herself, and they understood why when she said her thanks to Ana.

"Thank you, for being the most supportive person in my life, Mom."

Ana's eyes were closed, so they didn't see it right away, but when the tears started dripping out from her eyes, they smiled. Ana's own smile was so comforting for them to see. Ana was happy to be called a mother. No matter how much she encouraged them taking their time with progressing everything, she was happy. Ana's own mind was filled with the fond recent memory, Anabelle sleeping next to her.

"Take care of yourselves today. I might be better enough later to have dinner ready, so let's try and split the group a little for the dinner and get used to having less of the group with me at a time. Thank you for helping me and putting up with my issues."

Ana finished sending that message, and followed it up with setting herself for sleep. She would wake later in the day, hopefully all better. Kirito and Asuna stared at her peaceful expression for a few seconds, and sighed when they were satisfied. When they left the room, everyone was waiting for them.

"What's happening with Ana?"

"Is she alright?!"

Sinon and Leafa expressed their concerns for Ana, and they were followed shortly after by Sachi's concerns.

"I really hope that Ana-san wasn't pushing herself too much..."

Kirito and Asuna sighed.

"Well first, we should really head out and do as we had all planned today. Second, we'll tell everyone the situation when we don't have any risk of eavesdropping. We already know there are people targeting our group, and we need to be careful with what we let them know."

The warning came from Kirito. Lisbeth was the first to react to Kirito saying those words.

"Those criminal players that have been saying it would be better to just stay in the game, you mean? And other people Ana-san has sent to the prison. Lots of people are talking about how scary those people are."

Kirito and Asuna nodded their heads.

"We're essentially the worst enemy of people who want to stay in the game. Since we're only growing stronger and more equipped for progressing and reaching out of Aincrad, we're the biggest target for them. Then, they use any kind of upper hand against us to frighten other people from trying to make their efforts to getting out. We need to be careful, but also show that those people can't influence our progress."

Everyone was in agreement. Lisbeth was more proud of the group to hear how resolute and hero like Kirito and Asuna could be without Ana being the ringleader. She was ashamed to think it, but even though Ana was the greatest strength of the group, she was also the one who took away the hero like feeling from them. Lisbeth followed the more hero like group out of the inn, and everyone drew gazes from people outside as they headed out of the town.

The group was famous for many reasons. The two most notable reasons, were their achievements in making progress through Aincrad, and that every single person in the group were female. Since the majority population of Sword Art Online were male, it was baffling to them that so many female pros were the best group within the game. Over time, the assumption was made by many that eventually they would only seem above average, and some group of men would take over the progression through Aincrad. The group didn't care about some other group rising in strength and ability. In fact, it would be better to have others who could help progress through the game. The only person of the group who was upset at the rumours and talk of people about the group, was Lisbeth. Because she respected them so much.

Lisbeth had to bite her words back as she heard the rumours and talk about the group drift to them through the space between them in the virtual environment. She followed and walked with the group, trying to distract herself from those words as much as possible and when they left the town, they wasted no time getting out of reach of the words of other people within the game. They followed the directions and the map filling plan that the group had grown used to, and eventually found a good area to begin talking more about the situation with Ana.

"So, Ana. For her situation, her anxiety is making her very sick. It takes all she has to be with our whole group. She's been pushing herself so much because she likes being with us all, but for the sake of her health, we're going to need to start scheduling and splitting our time with her. Asuna and I have agreed with her that two people from our group at a time would be most appropriate. We have to consider everything after all, so maybe we should split our group into teams. For the time being, Ana suggested how pairs automatically seem to fit best. The only one she questioned, would be Sachi and Yuuki working together as a pair. Otherwise, we don't have another person to pair up with Lisbeth for the time being. Of course, if we just consider it as sort of the roles in the party, Ana and Lisbeth are going to be the primary crafters in our group in the long run. We do have eight people in total now for our group, a regular full party in many MMOs. In ways, as a group we're ready for any individual boss to show up, and our equipment because of Ana's work so far puts us in an easy situation against the more difficult monsters in comparison to other people."

Kirito stopped explaining, distracted by a difficult manoeuvre to dodge an enemy hitting her.

"We have to be very careful of Ana's anxiety. We have to consider it as something that needs attention, or we could very easily be in trouble. Nobody outside of our group should be allowed to know. Unfortunately we couldn't avoid it with our first raid group, but they are supporters of our group, so they already know to keep quiet about her anxiety issues. If the wrong people find out about her anxiety, we could have a very bad worst case scenario."

With Kirito and Asuna having spoken, the rest of the group were quiet and absorbing the weight of the situation. There was a consensus that the violent people in the game needed to be dealt with, for all of their sakes. They also needed to work on helping Lisbeth catch up in levels so that she wouldn't be a weakness whenever others would attack them.

That there were such despicable people in Aincrad was something that they were all in agreement was only trouble for them, and they needed to be treated as such. Not just in the game, those people should be punished in real life for their crimes inside of Sword Art Online. Everything within the game had consequences for actions. Sometimes, the consequences weren't harsh enough. At times, they were too harsh. The fact was, that there were murder players already known within the game, and many of those had yet to be thrown in the game's prison. Such people who kill other people within the game, needed to have their actions follow them for the rest of their lives. It wasn't simple player versus player any more. It wasn't simple acting against the strong players. It was murder, and that was a crime which was unforgivable in real life outside of the game. Many of the peaceful players were afraid of those people being completely free outside of the game. Those people who were no better than real life monsters.

The group continued on in silence, slaying monsters of the game and gathering as many materials as possible for Ana and Lisbeth's crafting. For them, the day was dismal in a sense. Their minds were flooded with the negative things within the game, and how much they effected their experiences. Nobody was paying attention for a moment while they closed in on a new pack of monsters, that another was running at them. The hobgoblin monster leapt at Kirito with claws ready to strike at her head. Nobody from the group was fast enough to react in time, and they were all surprised by the sudden appearance of a woman in purple equipment with white hair and red eyes. She charged toward the hobgoblin with terrifying force, slamming her giant two handed sword down on its head.

"Sorry about that! I accidentally let it get away...are you all right?"

They finally noticed the strange atmosphere around her, that she didn't even have a player or NPC tag on her. The name Strea was floating above her, but they couldn't understand her at all. Was she a player in some kind of special circumstance? Even then, Yuuki was very special in circumstances.

Strea put her sword away and walked over to Kirito, as if to check if there were any sign of damage. Asuna wasn't happy at all with how close Strea got. Kirito backed away from Strea and put her hands up in front of her signalling for Strea to stop.

"I-I'm fine, really. Thank you for dealing with that monster. I kind of have...personal space issues, so if you would please..."

Strea noticed how close she had been closing in on Kirito and she took a couple of awkward steps back. She had a confused expression on her face from Kirito's reaction.

"But...aren't you and Asuna usually even closer?"

Nobody wanted to hear the details, so everyone gave the signal for her to stop.

"Aw...no fun. Oh well. Sorry again for letting that monster get away. Maybe we can get along another time."

Kirito had something on her mind as Strea walked away. The hit points on the hobgoblin were still well above half, yet that one slash of Strea's two handed sword was enough to finish it off? Even if she was using a powerful skill, unless she was an even higher level than Ana and had a stronger weapon, there was no reason for her to be able to kill the hob goblin in that strike. Kirito was rightfully confused.

Lisbeth on the other hand, was fascinated by the mysterious and strange person who saved Kirito from being sneak attacked by a hob goblin. Strea was just like a hero, and she was on her own. Lisbeth's clouded judgement could be discerned by the rest of the group easily.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. As expected, when they returned, Ana had already set out dinner for everyone, but she wasn't in the restaurant area. It was obvious from her actions that she was trying to be as accommodating as possible to everyone. So that they could continue on mostly normal to how they had been. With only Ana not eating dinner with them, it wasn't so strange. There was still an empty feeling for those who were used to Ana being around during meals.

The sour mood continued into the night, and everyone wondered on how things would continue in the near future. Would Ana simply continue to fade from their group activities more and more?


	20. Chapter 20

~Progress~

As per everything going well and to plan, everyone continued with their daily lives of searching for the dungeon, gathering materials and ingredients, and they continued to level as much as they could. Still early in the game, the levelling was quite slow. Ana was an exception only because of the amount of crafting she did. Even Lisbeth was able to catch up quite quickly with her work in crafting and her attempts to reach Ana's level of quality for the weapons she made.

Individually, everyone was doing better and better with their fighting. Going in either a large group or as a pair with Ana teaching them had given everyone the chance to learn a lot from her directly, and progress their own capabilities in fighting monsters, dodging and blocking their attacks, and overall being able to handle monsters mostly of their own ability instead of always needing the help of each other. They still worked on their teamwork when they were together, but as far as training with Ana, the situation was as if everyone was growing dozens of times faster. Ana wasn't making any special work with them in regards to progressing their abilities. They simply had better opportunity to concentrate and learn when there were fewer people around. Yuuki's skill jump was considerable, but she was also the slowest learner of the group in comparison. She didn't learn much simply for the fact that she was already used to certain movements, and she wasn't making a large effort to change how she moved. Everyone agreed on the fact that they would concentrate on not using their skills until they were absolutely needed. Regular attacks with precision and skill of the person alone were the strongest method of approach. A skill, as they learned from Ana, was more for performing stuns on stronger opponents who were more difficult to stun than using normal attacks. They were for closing distance and performing something that was otherwise inhuman in capability.

On the tenth day after the group arrived on the third floor, eight days after it was opened to the rest of the people in the game, everyone entered the dungeon. Ana, Leafa and Sinon led the way, far enough ahead of the larger number of their group, and they cleared the path to the boss room. They already knew the situation with the boss room. Their opponent for the current floor, was a massive golem. Ana had taught them a lot about how to easily deal with a golem, since it could be very easy to stun lock them when you find and exploit their weak points.

The monsters of the third floor dungeon were mostly sprite type monsters and floating elemental stones which attacked with the equivalent of their extent to magic in the magic swords. The boss being a magically moving centurion was no surprise when they had checked it the day before.

People who had been focusing their attention on the group were convinced it was just another day of training for them, but when the group entered the boss room door, word travelled quickly among those who considered them enemies. Those people wanted to dirty the names of the strongest group in the game, show people that they were holding back on progressing the game. That they were part of the despicable group.

Ana alone took on the boss fight against the golem however. She made a show of going between her weapons in a flash while fighting the golem. The golem was a very slow moving monster, so she could easily pace herself in dodging and attacking. Plus, having most of the room free to move about in gave her plenty of space to not need worry about her anxiety causing trouble. The rest of the team stared in awe of how easily Ana alone steadily wiped the hit points of the golem down.

For the more detailed explanation of the fight, essentially Ana was walking through the battle. She didn't do anything major. She simply continued to have her position just right so that she could land as many possible attacks, and she would primarily use a thrusting attack on the weak points of the golem, which were primarily around the joints. When a joint would disconnect, she would switch to her magic hammer and with the ice element enchantment on it, she would first freeze the dismembered limbs, then use lightning enchantment on her magic hammer to destroy the limb. For the main body, the health didn't drop very fast, but that was because the limbs individually held more hit points when they were destroyed. By the end, all that was left was the main body, which could at most roll around. Because she fought the golem as such, it had no means of fighting back. It was a fast, decisive battle. The limbs were destroyed quickly, and when it came down to abusing the magic enchantments on the magic hammer she used, the golem was no more than a striking dummy for such a powerful hammer user. When the music for victory played, the entrance door to the room opened, and some of the many discontent players who wanted the group gone, entered the room. Ana was about to brave her anxiety and force them back, but the rest of the group stood firm and sent out duel requests to those people. The requests were denied of course. Those people didn't want the battle to end at half health. They wanted to make everyone who allied with Ana drop to zero hit points. Because of the concern something as such might happen, Ana had prepared ahead of time. Everyone in the team had a dozen of the capturing nets in their inventory. When those violent people started charging forward, the first volley of nets were cast at them. Ana pulled the prison warp crystal from her inventory and activated it. None of the people from her group would have an orange marker through their little battle. As soon as they allowed themselves get hit by an attack, or one of the people who was captured by a net was labelled orange by the system, the violent people disappeared quickly.

"You didn't really think we wouldn't be prepared for such scummy people, did you? You're all going to prison and staying there!"

Those words from Lisbeth were like a perfect taunt, and those on the other side of the battle only became more violent, throwing out poison potions and many other items to try and cause debilitation for the team.

The battle didn't once swing in favour for the side of the violent people who sought to kill the progression group. In fact, Asuna and Sachi managed to keep everyone at maximum health even while the team were taking the odd hit from the attackers. Not once did they retaliate. When only one person remained, a person with a black hood and a full face mask, the name overhead telling he was called PoH, he finally said the first coherent words from the opposing forces.

"We will kill all of you. This place is our paradise. A place we can kill freely. A place where even if we do have to leave because of trash like you, we can't be blamed for our killing. You were prepared today, but don't think yourselves so prepared next time we meet."

He turned around, and headed back into the dungeon. Everyone had chills from how disgusting, creepy and horrible his line of thinking was. He most likely needed to be dealt with more than the people they had sent to the prison.

"Let's get going. Let's see if we can find the next dungeon today. Floor five is where the guild creation is, so let's try and have a guild as soon as possible."

The text window which appeared for the rest of the people who were left behind, the team who watched the boss fight, but those who also mostly dealt with the criminals, was their signal to follow Ana out. They really did want to have their guild decided. Let other people who could support the effort to get out of the game join them at least in the name of the guild.

The fourth floor was more autumnal in decoration. It was a very inviting atmosphere. As if...Christmas time were right around the corner. Christmas was very close. It would be a time they would want to spend with their families, but there was nothing that could be done about it. It was impossible to get out of the game so easily. Only to return back to fighting in the game?

At least, Ryra had been working on something for a lot of the time. Getting the application to contact people in the game, out to every health care provider for the patients of the game, so that all families and friends who could make it for Christmas or possibly before would be able to talk with their loved ones who were trapped within the game. It was a very emotional time for everyone. For the lead group, they were mostly satisfied though. Ana was able to contact Ryra every day. Kirito Leafa and Sinon were able to contact their families fairly often. Asuna was happier talking with those around her and Ryra than her parents who still hadn't been notified of the mass scale communication between the game and reality. Sachi and her family had the opportunity to talk to each other as well, and their words had given her a lot of strength in the goal of going forward. Yuuki wanted to get in touch with her friends from the Medicuboid project, but she was still enjoying her time with the friends she had made in Sword Art Online. Lisbeth had been in contact with her father a bit, and they talked about how she was being so strong and impressive by working with the strongest people in the game. There were no hard feelings from anyone outside of the game toward their having been trapped in the game. It was the time of year for being together after all. Why spoil the mood with contempt for the action of playing a game and the unfortunate unforeseen possibility of what did happen? Nobody even cast blame at Kayaba Akihiko anymore, and the law enforcement had taken a break from looking for him.

After activating the teleport gate for the fourth floor, everyone immediately began journeying the fourth floor, combing through the area and collecting as they went. The only breaks they took along the way, were breaks for refreshing their stamina, and having their lunch. The day went to late afternoon as they arrived in front of the new dungeon. Already they beset the dungeon, and headed straight in. Ana, Leafa and Sinon continued their leading charge, easily clearing a path. With how swiftly they dealt with the monsters, it were as if they were many levels beyond them. Even though at most, Ana was only a few levels higher than the highest level of monsters. Mostly dealing with the monsters using Ana and Sinon's bows, finishing them off mostly with Ana and Leafa's magic swords, they swiftly dispatched every monster in front of them along they way.

When the boss room door was within sight, they nearly sighed collectively in relief. Before they continued past the door, the question permeated the air around them. The very threatening atmosphere of what stand on the other side of the door, they hoped to only be one monster. Their opponents of the dungeon had most been avian, bird like creatures or bats even. When Ana pushed the door open and saw the lone massive creature a mix of eagle and bat only reinforced her notion of pressing forward. Ana walked beyond the frame of the door, and the rest followed. This time, Ana wouldn't be fighting alone. With Leafa and Sinon still intending to assist her with main tanking the massive monster, Kirito Asuna and Sachi stood on the opposite end of the monster, while Yuuki and Lisbeth each took a side of it.

When the battle began, the creature nearly landed the first hit against Ana the entire day. The strike at Ana had been a warning from the monster to the party not to take it lightly. Everyone braced themselves when they felt how serious the situation was. The creature continued to rise and descend, trying to crush Ana. Ana, on the other hand, was swift. As she dodged, and even short after a dodge, she would unleash as many arrows as she could manage. It was the most reliable method of damaging after all, with the creature continually rising and descending.

Ten percent of the monster's health dropped in the first ten minutes. After those first ten percent, the first surprising occurrence began. It had a mechanic change. The creature stayed on the ground, starting to use its wings directly to attack, or kicking simply with the taloned feet. The attacks were faster, but a little weaker than the attacks before. Still, taking a single hit wasn't an option. Ana had to keep track of where Leafa and Sinon were around her, because sometimes they would step a little into the path of where an attack would hit. Ana's fingers were incredibly fast though, and warning windows would show up often to warn them back.

The battle went so smoothly, that switching between the main and off tanking only occurred a few times. When they reached the monster to half of its hit points, it started charging across the room on its feet. This was easily dodged when Ana noticed how it was about to move and warned everyone, telling them where to move with the message windows. To all of them, with her leading their raid on the floor boss, it was like playing an MMO properly. Having text tell someone how and where to move, if someone missed something. Every little part of being a good raid leader was shown in the message windows.

Even after the enrage mechanic was started, there was no issue. The monster took to the upper section of the battlefield and flew about in a few different patterns, swiping at Ana mostly, whoever would end up below it with its talons. No matter how fast or random the thing flew, Ana's instructions were ready. Any rare hit landed on someone would be instantly healed, and the arrows from Ana, Sinon and Kirito only continued to diminish the health of the monster until the hit points finally reached zero. The monster didn't simply disappear without a dying animation this time, crashing and tumbling, breaking apart and shattering, pixels erasing it as it died. When the victory music played, everyone was tired. Everyone thanked Ana for all of the saves she made with her message windows, but only Leafa and Sinon stayed close to her. Everyone was just ready to head up to the fifth floor, activate the teleport gate and have dinner. Get some rest. Then, maybe the next day they would try and clear another floor if they could find the dungeon again so fast.

The town on the fifth floor had a very large and noticeable building in the teleport plaza which was quickly recognized as the guild registration building. There were many NPC characters about on the fifth floor. Much of the activity there was for things such as quests. It was incredibly busy. It would only grow much busier with the coming of many other people of lower floors who would aim to have their own guilds. It was a very exciting thing for any group of friends who were ready to form a guild. Minutes after the teleport gate was activated, confused people teleported in.

"Wasn't the fourth floor just unlocked today? How are we to the fifth floor already?"

The lightly puzzled individuals who appeared at first were simply stunned at the fact that the fourth floor was already cleared. Soon, excited shouts could be heard through the entire town. The fifth floor was the first big jump in events available. First thing most people noticed and made use of was of course the guild registry building. The next thing, was the sheer vast number of quests in the town. Finally, a very special event which would go until Christmas. Nobody had seen it, but everyone was informed when it happened again.

The entire population remaining in Aincrad were teleported to the event plaza of the fifth floor. There were still a great number of people within the game, and all of those people were exceptionally crowded in the plaza. Thankfully, Ana's group had been there in advance and secured an alley where they wouldn't be teleported into the masses of people. The giant red robed avatar formed from the error alerts in the sky, and Kayaba Akihiko greeted them again.

"Welcome all, to the fifth floor of Aincrad. To be honest, I was convinced this event wouldn't be relevant with the pace everything was going. In celebration of the valiant efforts of the progression party who have been putting forth so much effort to get everyone this far, those people will receive a boost until the end of this month on their experience earned in all facets of growth. Any crafting they do, will produce another multiple of strength, and they will be granted one rule breaking item. This item can also be earned in another event, the reason for this gathering."

Everyone stared up at the avatar in the sky, and many snarled at the idea that the group of Ana, Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, Sachi, Yuuki and Lisbeth having so much bonus just for clearing to floor five after over a month in the game. After a brief pause, Kayaba continued.

"The reason for this gathering, is our very own Aincrad Christmas event. From this evening until the end of the day on December twenty sixth, every person within Aincrad is invited to participate in the present hunt! The present hunt, encourages all people in Aincrad to go out and slay the monsters on the fifth floor and above. The stronger the monsters, the higher the chance the monsters will drop a present. If you obtain a present, you can either open it right away and possibly obtain a rare and powerful item, or simple money rewards at second worst. The largest risk of opening a present early, is that one out of every hundred presents can devour and kill the person who opens it. The more presents you collect and hold onto until the end of the day on the twenty sixth, the higher the chance for an extremely rare gift and a major strength toward either progression, or destruction within the game. Those in the prisons will also be allowed to participate in this game, as the prisons have now connected to an ultimately challenging labyrinth below the first floor of Aincrad."

The silence of the crowd was broken by the information everyone heard. Another dungeon was going to be below the first floor? Connected to the prisons? So criminals were being given a method of possible escape?

"Ah, I hear that concern from those concerned in the crowd. Do not fret. The monsters of the dungeon below the prison start at the strength of floor ten's creatures. To add to the risk of these dungeons, there are roaming far more powerful boss monsters which have the chance to immediately kill players who aren't skilled at dodging. Even blocking those attacks will end with death. However, if there are those who wish to test their strength and ability decide they wish to venture into the dungeon, there are items and chests any monster may drop, and those may include rare and powerful items. However, chests there may also be of the monster variety, even one dropped from a monster. These monster chests are immortal, so if one is opened, you must escape it in order to survive. Once a monster chest is escaped, they will disappear. The thing about the under dungeon, is that it is also one hundred floors deep. Any who dare to venture its depths take the risk of death, in the search of the grandest treasures."

For another pause, everyone went silent again, the fear and awe of what might be worth the risk later in progression. None from the team around Ana were convinced of the venture down being worth the risk. Certainly there could be incredible items in the under dungeon and materials to make unrivalled equipment, but at the risk of their lives, none of them were exactly thrilled at such a thing existing.

"To continue with details of the event, the item which defies the rules of this world will be obtained only by the one individual person who holds the most presents at the end of the day on the twenty sixth. You all have three weeks of treasure hunting. There are other prizes which can be checked on in detail at any quest board which will now be available at the guild centre at the teleport plaza of this floor and every other five floors. Guilds who participate in the event who gather the most overall presents, will be able to freely and safely open all gifts at the end of the event. For the first three places, there are also special items which can be earned. Presents can be stolen, but not by picking the pocket of another. The only method for obtaining presents another person has earned, is to kill them."

For a final pause, it dawned on everyone how dangerous the event was. It was pitting everyone against each other, whether they were strong or not. The criminals, should they band together, could have the chance to break free from the prisons. The violent people might group up and attack weaker people for the excuse of taking presents they might have earned. It was essentially a warning to weaker players that they were going to be hunted down by the people who should have been kicked out of the game for their foul intents. To those people who only considered it a game or a haven that shouldn't end.

The group around Ana realized how corrupt and foul the rules of the event were. Was Kayaba intentionally pitting those foul people against everyone? Or was he only thinking of it as a game for the time being?

"To close this introduction to the event, all murderers during this event will be immediately cast to the prisons. If a person is in the prisons or under dungeon at the end of the event, their present count will not be counted among the end totals. As a punishment to those so desperate to kill one another. Also, murderers escaping from the prisons through the under dungeon will be pursued by an immortal boss monster who would kill the person with a single strike. This is a notice for from this point forward. Any who perform criminal acts during this event period will be sent to the prison, and those who perform criminal acts at any other time and are sent to the prison by assigned law enforcement within Aincrad will have the rules of the prison and under dungeon stuck with them until the game is cleared. There is no longer a time period before a person would be released from prison. Any person must escape as their only means for getting free from prison. And now that we are all caught up, thank you for listening. Happy holidays."

Disappearing again in the reverse of how the avatar appeared, the plaza was buzzing with the news of the event. The event still encouraged murder, but there were heavy consequences for a murderer. They would be pursued until death within the under dungeon. That very fact made a lot of people feel relieved. It was equivalent to torturing those people for their crimes.

The sound of guilds was even more powerful and important, even to solo players. They would likely even join a guild simply to have the tag next to them so that they would have the backing of other people in case violent or criminal people decided to act on the risk of being trapped in the under dungeon maze, hunted by an immortal instant killing boss monster. Grouping together had become a very powerful idea. Unfortunately it had already been made apparent that they would be criminals and current criminals were thinking along the same lines. Having a criminal and violent group working together.

Ana was anticipating a lot of people might even wait for the creation of the guild she would be part of with the rest around her, so that the weaker, or even anyone who was undecided on a guild would have a chance to be supported by the strongest in Aincrad.

The rest of the group looked to Ana, the realization hitting all of them.

"Well, let's go start our guild. How about since we have four people who participated in the beta test, even with my experience limited to five minutes, we call our guild Beta?"

The people around Ana smiled and nodded their heads in agreement. It was a good name, if nothing else. More, it was a statement. That they were the most experienced, putting the reality of having beta testers in their guild as the name itself. It was already the biggest anticipation that the progression group would form a guild. The question many were considering after the event was announced, was how many people would be allowed join?

With the overly abundant anticipation, Beta were the first to arrive at the guild building.


	21. Chapter 21

~Beta~

One extremely important piece of information regarding guilds within the game, was that they weren't free. Not free to start, not free to maintain, and they were definitely difficult to lead. Especially when you were dealing with people who couldn't hide who they really were outside of the game aside personal information which they might not even be able to hide depending on how careful or not they were. Personal information was unfortunately open between the original members of Beta.

As they left the guild building, there was a storm of message windows filling up the vision in front of all of the members. They didn't stop filling their vision, no matter how much they were blocked. At least, until Ana set their communication as a guild to guild only filter. Unless the people were smart enough to try and contact with private messages in request to joining the guild, they wouldn't be considered. It was incredibly difficult to get out from the crowd, but with Ana's anxiety, she had two settings. Either she was exhausted and sick from her anxiety, or she was near inhuman. Ana escaped the crowd with a set of powerful jumps, up to the balcony of the second floor to the guild building, and then to the alley outside of the effective area of the crowd. She ran away like a flash.

She taught another guild ability in the next moment, sending a teleport option to the rest of the people within the guild to where she escaped, an inn out of the effective area. The group still needed to have their dinner. It was when everyone warped into the inn, that they realized the event announcement had happened at the same time as it had before, starting at five thirty in the evening. They had a very busy day, clearing through the boss of the third floor, and the entire dungeon of the fourth floor to arrive at the fifth floor so quickly. Then, they were even interrupted by the event announcement as expected when they would have preferred creating their guild peacefully before such a mess could have occurred. Now that Ana had a moment to register what they had gone through, the anxiety she faced and performed as she had been through, she slumped onto a chair in the corner of the restaurant. While everyone else was still surprised from the sudden introduction of a guild power, to teleport, Ana gave the permissions everyone needed to be able to use it. So long as people were on the same floor, a person could be given teleport permission directly to a person requesting their teleport.

When everyone stopped thinking about how excited they were, they noticed how exhausted Ana was from the backlash of her anxiety. She had an anxiety attack in the form of a huge adrenaline burst which allowed her to move as she had and let everyone escape the scene of the massive crowd begging to be part of the guild. Ana's previous anxiety attack experience had already made those who knew, frightened about what an anxiety attack could do even if they already had some experience with anxiety.

Ana only needed a little more time to rest, she told them through a message window. The others only need wait for her to recover a little bit. Truly though, she had received a call from Ryra. Because regardless how strong or calm a person was, even with an anxiety attack, as soon as adrenaline was introduced to the system, the heart rate soars. It had only happened once before that Ana had experienced adrenaline, and only then Ryra had a chance to witness Ana having anything other than a normal heart rate.

Ana accepted the communication from Ryra, and she sighed as she heard repeated exclamations of concern.

"Are you okay Ryra?! What the heck made your heart rate shoot up?! Something happened to cause need for an adrenaline boost, didn't it?! It wasn't a floor boss was it?!"

Ryra was interrupted by a text window from Ryra.

"Just an anxiety attack like back in Shibuya. Never mind that. I'm fine, just recovering. I'll be back to normal in a minute or two, just tired. Anyway, how is your whole Christmas event going on your end, getting the communication app available to all the other hospitals involved?"

Ryra wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"The Christmas event preparation is going great. Now tell me why the heck you had so much of an anxiety attack you had adrenaline! Unless you're in such a dangerous situation like Shibuya, I can't think of another reason for such a big anxiety attack!"

Ana rolled her head over to press a cheek against the table she sat at in the restaurant, and she typed her response, no need to hide anything from Ryra.

"Guild registration was unlocked, and because of how that idiot planned everything, everyone wants to be part of our guild, and swarmed us outside of the registration building. I could have very well had a normal shut down, but maybe it's the number of people there that made the adrenaline kick in. I think I remember jumping up a floor worth of height and then down into an alley and sprinting off at a speed nobody could keep up with...and now I'm here and everyone from the guild is safe from that nonsense of a massive gathering."

Ryra was horrified at the idea of how that could have turned out. Ana, the person with the worst case of anxiety she knew, swarmed by hundreds...even likely thousands of people outside of a building, was probably the most terrifying thing that might happen. No wonder there was an adrenaline rush.

"What did that idiot do this time, by the way?"

Ana sighed again and began explaining. She was full of sighs from her exhaustion.

"Well, he introduced a lot of things since we just reached the fifth floor this afternoon. He started this crazy Christmas event that runs until the end of the day on the twenty sixth where there was basically this promotion for violent and murdering players. There was this introduction of this under dungeon, one hundred floors expanding below the mural building where everyone's names are, and below the prisons. Prisoners have a possible method of escape. At least he had the mind enough to have an absolute risk for anyone who decides to murder, setting an immortal instant kill monster to the under dungeon to hunt them down until they either die or escape. The event has certain details in it that make it so the individual who gathers the most gifts will get this item we received for clearing us to floor five, a revive item which has to be used within ten seconds of a person's death within the game. He never explained the effect of the item, but everyone wants it regardless since he said it was game breaking. Otherwise, as a guild, all present items collected and kept until the twenty sixth are essentially free items, and the guild with the most present has a special item for every person in the guild. Plus, being part of such a strong guild like ours right off the hop is essentially protection for the less experienced people in here. It's basically a damn trap from that guy."

Ryra was speechless on the other end of the conversation for a whole minute. When she finally cut her silence, she was angry.

"How the hell does that monster think any of that is okay in the slightest?! I'm bringing this up with the authorities as soon as we're done this conversation! They need to get right back to searching for him and end this game before anyone dies because of his sadistic view of the game and everyone in it!"

Ana had no complaints if there were really a chance for Kayaba Akihiko to be found and the game shut down. She would rather that far more than facing another mob of people like that again. It wasn't likely to end until the event would end, probably not even after the event. As terrible as he was a person overall, he was actually being quite fair if considering it as a game alone. As a game, everything had been fair so far. Ana couldn't deny that it made sense from a video game perspective. As a moral perspective, as a life and death perspective, he truly was a monster. Some idiot with a God-complex.

"Well, I'm feeling better now. Might want to give me some headache medicine for your end though. You were pretty loud when you got mad there. I'll close it from this end. Good night. I love you."

Ana ended the call only after Ryra calmed down enough to put together a good night close. When she stood up, the rest of Beta looked at her with concern and curiosity.

"I'm fine now. I'm just very tired. Let's have dinner and get to bed early tonight. We all worked very hard today, so let's take it easy tonight. Prepare yourselves mentally for tomorrow though. It's very possible that some time tonight, we might be discovered here and hounded by the people who swarmed us outside of the guild registration building."

After sending the message window, she walked to the kitchen, and she didn't leave for a while. Kirito and Asuna had joined her almost right after she had entered.

"Are you really okay, Ana?"

Kirito was insistent on checking if Ana was okay. Without everyone else around to hear it, she thought maybe Ana would tell more about it.

"Just...tired. I already told you that though. Ever heard of anxiety attacks coming in many forms? Well, for me there's two forms it's shown up as in my past. Either the sickness and immediate exhaustion, or a ridiculous adrenaline rush. I had the latter kind before when we were swarmed outside of the guild registration building. Why I'm so tired and insistent on heading to bed early, is because of how tired an adrenaline rush leaves me. I'm fine for a little while after recovering from the immediate after effect, but I'm far more exhausted after the slight recovery is over. Really, I'm fine. Let's get dinner ready, I'll eat in here, and everyone can rest easy tonight."

After Ana's explanation, it felt that there was no further reason to question what had happened before. Kirito and Asuna sighed in their relief, and they set to helping Ana as much as they could. Lighten her load of work, since she was still incredibly tired. Since they went through and entire new floor and arrived on the next in a day, it would be the first new day of experimenting with new food normally...and still was. Ana decided on the dish being a stuffed curry bun, with a side of a soup from new vegetable stock with some of the extra grease of the curry for broth, and then a finishing touch of a berry bread. Kirito and Asuna were confused at the beginning like every other new meal Ana introduced, but they always ended up impressed. Just how many meals did she know? And how could they all be so delicious and work so well together?

Ana leaned over a counter with her meal while Kirito and Asuna brought out everyone else' meals like promised before. Ana had some time to relax like that against the counter. She even regained a little energy. But only from the food consumption. As soon as the hunger settled and no longer effected her energy enough to make a difference, she was near ready to fall asleep.

After cleaning her dish and returning it to the kitchen's stock, she left the kitchen in a near stumble, hurriedly making her way to the inn keep and registering herself a room before heading up. Of course her stumbling would catch everyone's attention. She hadn't even noticed that someone other than Beta were in the restaurant. When she received a message as she plopped down on the bed in her room, she sighed in her exhaustion and frustration of the name of the person who had shown up. Klein. Well, it wasn't just him, but the rest of his group as well. They had formed a guild called Fuurinkazan. Apparently Klein wanted to tie their guilds together for the sake of the Christmas event. Ana's immediate and only response as the guild leader was a cold no. She remembered Klein for one thing mostly, his perverted one track mind. Regardless how relaxed a mind he had, there was no logical thinking to his perversion being showcased after hearing that he was in a life or death situation, and realized that the two people who taught him in the few starting hours were girls. He flirted with them and disturbed them when they caught up with someone personally involved. He even flirted with Ana when he saw her blind eyes.

She didn't like him. It was simple as that. She was even unlikely to make that kind of move with Midnight Black Cats, even with Sachi being in Beta, when she was originally with those people. For the sake of keeping their guild as controlled as possible, no ties until later when ties were absolutely needed. For the time being, she would only accept recruits who met certain criteria into the guild. Mostly people who were ready and willing to learn. Whether it be in crafts, helping out the fellow guild mates with keeping updated on their gear. Ana and Lisbeth would maintain the top team of the guild with their gear, but many others through the rest of the guild could also be crafters who support each other and the other more combat geared. She could even teach combat. Of course, she would end up spending less and less time with the friends who had become so close already the more the guild would expand, so at most she believed in having another three full teams. Enough for a maximum full raid. She would only train them as much as they had the potential for, then spread her time most between the more precious friends she currently spent her time with, then some time with the newer members of the guild.

Ana even typed out the whole answer. Klein only grew more upset that Ana was so against tying their guilds together even only temporarily for the event. He was depressed that he wouldn't get any of Ana's famous teaching. He was devastated that Ana only aimed to solidify a very powerful guild who could smoothly progress through the game at a strong pace. Basically, any guild outside of theirs wasn't being considered by Ana toward the progression upward and out of the game. There were a couple of voices against such a thing within the current Beta. Leafa and Sachi were against Ana's mindset, because Sachi wanted to be able to tie with her friends, even if she was still afraid of the idea going back with them. Leafa because she wanted to have a lot more people around. The rest considered it from a healthy and progression point of view.

In regard to the guild health, everyone had to be able to be healthy. Realistically, even bringing in three more teams was ridiculous considering Ana's anxiety, and she was the guild leader. The guild would need to be balanced to be healthy. To have good, positive and needed personalities which would mesh well together. To show the rest of the people outside of the guild that they weren't willing to work with just anyone. For a time, not tying with other guilds was the smartest thing to do. Eventually, it might even be a decent idea to connect with Fuurinkazan, but only after the time frame where the guild solidified itself passed. Ana didn't mind connecting with the Midnight Black Cats, but that would also have to wait for such time as well. Extending beyond the reach of the guild and blatantly helping others would only weaken the support of the guild. As well, extending beyond like usual would only deteriorate Ana's health and capabilities.

Ana set herself to sleep after sending off the message, deciding it was better to get her rest for the time being and worry about the other drama later. When the conversation tried to continue including her, the sleeping icon showed up next to her name and everyone shook their heads when Klein looked at them with a hopeful expression they would tell him they could continue talking about him allying with the guild.

In the end, Kirito explained to Klein that it was very possible that Beta allying out with another guild so early would only belittle the group. That the guilds should rely on themselves and show their strengths and develop themselves respectable names.

"See, if we ally with Fuurinkazan right now, through the Christmas event, other people will either criticize and say we need help for this kind of event, or you'd be putting your guild in a terrible spot for strength since most people know our guild already. It's actually better that Ana answered no right away to this. It only reminds me how fragile the situation is right now. We could gradually accept new members into our guild, build them up into a powerful raiding team and let everyone else ride our coattails out of Aincrad, or we could just have a couple of really strong teams in our guild for taking into those raids when more people are needed. The point we really need to consider though, is Ana. She has a condition that makes it difficult to form large groups around her. She also has a bad impression of you because of how you acted toward her on day one. Redeem yourself from the perverted role you gave yourself, and eventually she might say it could be worth it to work together. For the time being though, we just can't do that. For our own and your own sakes."

Klein nearly sobbed with his grief toward the situation. He tried to pick himself up right away, showing his personality through, and he smiled when he realized that it wasn't a forever no.

"So I might be able to win her over then?"

Even his own guild mates sighed at his words. No matter how he worded it, everyone heard the intentions behind those words. He was still fixated on getting a relationship in the game.

"Could you stop thinking between your legs and use your head? Seriously, this is why girls run away from your guild. It's not about winning Ana over. You're only setting yourself up with thoughts of a relationship with her, to get yourself very likely thrown into the prison over the harassment policy. Do you even remember her retort to you after your tone toward her back then? She's engaged to marry, and already pregnant with her fiancee."

Klein hung his head in shame. He had tried forgetting about it, and with the heavy reminder from Kirito, his hopes sank like an ingot into the ocean. He had no chance. He liked to think there was a chance, but Ana was also the most brutally honest person to him about how hopeless his train of thought was. They were in a situation where any second while in battle, being unprepared could lead to death.

"It's no fair~!"

Klein decided to leech on something and continue the conversation with that, even though he knew how bad it was.

"I mean, Ana-san has a fiancee waiting for her outside, you and Asuna-chan are all cozy, and the rest of your group get along great. You're all beauties too! No offence to my friends, but we're a bunch of average nerds with desk jobs. We don't have a chance in real life, so this is the better chance some of us will get in our lives to get close with someone!"

Kirito had become fed up with the attitude Klein was giving off.

"Well then. As Ana would put it, gather up your hormones and take them somewhere else. If you're so desperate for a relationship, why not try as Ana with Ryra? Or myself with Asuna? We're all in girl only relationships. You could probably let out some of this ridiculous frustration you're building up too if you open up your mind a little. Unless somehow we're not on the same wavelength, none of our guild wants to hear you go on about how empty your love life is."

All eyes in the restaurant of the inn looked at Kirito. The NPCs did because they were programmed to respond to sound. Fuurinkazan and Klein did in surprise and horror. Beta did with about the same amount of surprise and as well respect. Kirito handled the situation nearly the same as they imagined Ana would have handled it. For Fuurinkazan, that was extremely unfortunate. For Beta, it was another sign that Ana was having lasting effects that shouldn't be overlooked.

Klein stood up, which was followed by the rest of his guild standing up.

"Fine then! We'll leave! But just because you're all girls and it's fine for you to be together, don't think it's so easy for guys to be that way!"

Sinon retorted to that comment.

"You should meet my little brother then. He has an older boyfriend. Deny it all you like, but boys being together can be found in many places around the world. Just like girls being together. I wonder...how long will you last? Or will your hormones run out before you give another boy a try?"

Sinon adding on her own little joke to the situation only made Fuurinkazan run out of the inn faster than they originally intended. Some of them tripped over themselves. Some of them were out smoothly. Klein lumbered out like a camel without water.

The rest of the night was quiet, and Beta managed to rest peacefully. First thing in the morning, they surprisingly didn't have a crowd waiting for them. Instead, there was a tall unfamiliar man with dark skin, bald head and some decent dungeon drop equipment. He had the obvious look of a foreigner.

"I spread a rumour that you went down to another floor so you wouldn't be found here this morning. Don't worry, I'm here on good intentions, an acquaintance of Argo. My name is Agil. Argo had mentioned you might sooner or later have need to rely on someone to sell used equipment and items you don't use, and I'd like in on your guild. I run a shop in real life and would be happy to run a guild shop selling extra items from your crafters and other things you don't use. I want to be part of your guild more because I want to support the guild with the most promise of getting us all out of here. I don't need an answer right now, but how does this sound?"

Agil looked at the group, and realized three people were missing from the group from what he'd heard about them. The most famous of their guild, the leader Ana wasn't present.

"You're going to have to at least wait and talk to Ana-san...and she's making an extra dish for you, so you might as well sit down, Agil-san. At least to us you're a little uncomfortable just standing there."

Leafa awkwardly directed the conversation to a more comfortable position. Agil was sort of an intimidating man. He was one of the more impressive, built men within the game, so there was some base thought toward him that he might be someone who would make their way in with the guild with his skill even if he didn't obtain Ana's okay for handling a guild shop.

Minutes of awkward silence passed waiting for Asuna Kirito and Ana to finish in the kitchen, and the meals were brought out by Asuna and Kirito. Ana as per late stayed in the kitchen with her food. Kirito and Asuna took their seats, and the conversation continued while they ate.

"Your leader Ana-san isn't here?"

Kirito nodded toward the kitchen.

"You can talk to her when breakfast is done. Leafa told me about your request. Ana asked me to tell her a little more about you before you and her would talk. So, how about you tell us about your experiences in Aincrad so far?"

Kirito was blunt about it. She had been learning how to speak with authority and strength from Ana, and everyone had to admit being impressed with how well Kirito pulled it off.

"Same as some. Couldn't stand waiting in the Town of Beginnings, took it extra careful and sponged off of more experienced players. You must not recognize me, but I was part of the first floor raid group with you. I was apparently good enough back then to take along, guess I want a chance to work a little harder and do what I can to help our chances of getting out. If it means helping with gathering materials, so be it. If it means being taken into the main team, great! If it means I can run a guild shop, then I'd count it as the closest thing this game has to home."

Agil was promising. He had a good head on his shoulders, and he didn't have to correct his gaze once. He was determined, and he had only good motivations. There was a hint that he wanted to be able to be in contact with good merchandise, and whether that was just a merchant's soul to him or a collector, it was something that held good standing for him. He was making leagues better an impression over someone like Klein.

"What kind of shop do you run in real life? A general goods store? Pawn shop? Those are the first which come to mind when thinking of a guild shop being involved."

Asuna asked that question. She wanted to be sure what kind of store owner he was from the merchandise he sold. The rest of the group focused on the conversation, taking a small break from their breakfast to hear the answer.

"I run a coffee bar. A cafe. During the day, it's a comfy hole in the wall coffee shop. Bar in the evenings to the late night. Nothing more, but it's home and it does me and my wife well."

Some more about him. He seemed the type to know the online etiquette, but it didn't matter. He was more concerned with making a good impression with people who could end the game.

Everyone continued eating. They were happy to hear that Agil was so honest. Also to hear that he had a wife waiting for him. That kind of information reinforced that he would be better for the guild than someone like Klein. His business was more of the consumable variety though, so it was questionable how he would do with the kind of business in handling selling equipment and other odds and ends.

Everyone finished breakfast before the conversation continued. Asuna and Kirito gathered up the plates, and brought them back to the kitchen. Eventually, the rest of Beta left the inn, Asuna Kirito and Ana left behind to speak with Agil. About a minute after everyone else left, Agil began to feel tricked somehow, but Ana Kirito and Asuna walked out from the kitchen area. They sat across from Agil at the table where everyone else had been, and Agil straightened himself in his seat when he saw Ana. Ana had her visor on, so Agil felt more intimidated by her.

Ana observed Agil's demeanour and eventually she progressed as usual with her text windows.

"Do you want to run a restaurant, or do you want to help fight?"

Those words were a test. Agil had already answered the question before, "whatever I can to help us get out of the game".

"Argo-chan mentioned the likelihood of you needing a shop soon, someone who could handle customers. Since I'm not caught up to your guild in levels and experience in battling, and I do have experience serving customers, that fits the bill perfectly for me since I could fill that role at any time. But if you'd rather me work with you, raise my level and have me learn how to battle these stronger monsters, then that works too. I'm ready to do as much work as you're ready to give me."

Asuna and Kirito looked at Ana after Agil finished answering her. A smile crossed her face and the atmosphere lightened in the room.

"Well, we're not busy enough for now to worry about setting up a shop. I'd suggest we hold off on that until we reach a later floor when we could fully establish our guild with a full store, perhaps something attached to a guild home. Until then, I'd like to first have you assist with the Christmas event. Through the Christmas event, I'll be checking on how much I can trust you to be able to handle the belongings of the guild, since we're likely to need to set up a storage soon with our large amount of bulk. After the Christmas event, because of how full our inventories are, if you earn our trust, then I'd let you show more by running a stall with goods ranging from consumables the three of us make, to uncommon drop items, even some of the crafted equipment we don't use. Of course dungeon treasures and special items from there would be included in the store inventory. This is just an outline of the possible future though. For today, we're splitting Beta into two groups. The four of us, and the rest as separate groups. We'll be doing some map filling exploration and search for the dungeon. We kill every monster in the path of our mapping, and build up our present collection. If we find the dungeon, we clear it and defeat the boss monster as our full guild if it's the boss monster alone. We won't unlock the teleport gate of the sixth floor when we get there, so that we could monopolize it. If we make enough progress with the sixth floor and it's safe to proceed to the seventh floor, after defeating another lone boss monster, then we could monopolize even more chance at the present item drops. We could keep this up and build up our event earnings as much as possible. That way, you'll have plenty to sell from the stall we'd start out with. Keep in mind, we've already been selling our items. This doesn't mean we couldn't appreciate someone experienced in retail selling our extras. It just means we could keep on doing so as we have been regardless our decisions with your interest in our guild."

Agil realized just how big a difference it was, between dealing with Kirito, Asuna or Leafa before, with dealing with Ana. Certainly the teenagers were shaped well by Ana's influence, but she was multiple steps planned ahead in everything. He had a small sample of how strong the group really was, and he was ready to latch onto it, and ride it out. To do whatever Ana's plans led to. He couldn't imagine any scenario other than a bright future for the guild Beta.

When the invitation arrived to him to be invited to the guild, Agil didn't hesitate to accept.

"I'm ready to follow."

He stood from his seat and showed his resolve. Asuna and Kirito smiled when they saw the determination on his face, and the guild tag beside his name above his head. He was a giant of a man in comparison to Ana. Seeing such a giant beside her made him feel more like a body guard as far as appearances, but it was most likely still the other way around, Ana being the stronger of the two.


	22. Chapter 22

~Head Start~

Ana, Kirito, Asuna and Agil set out after confirming him into the party, after confirming him into the guild. Agil was extremely focused. Ana noticed right away that the kind of focus he was holding, was a kind which would only exhaust him sooner. After the first pull of monsters in the field, she turned to him and stopped their progression for an instant. Her warning text window showed up in front of him.

"It's good that you're focused, but you're too focused. At your current pace, depending on how you handle going forward, we're likely to need to return early from you running yourself dry on energy soon. Calm down a few notches. We're safe enough on this floor to be able to handle the regular floor monsters. No big deal."

Agil nodded his head, took a big breath and managed to calm down a bit. He had a slightly more relaxed expression, which led into Ana leading them forward again. Group after group of monsters were pulled and eliminated with ease, their present number rising quite promisingly. Kirito kept track of an event information page which could be accessed from the menu. So far, out of everyone in the guild, their present collection count hadn't even reached the individual ranks, but then they couldn't compete for the time being with the people who had been desperately trying to gain ground on their count through the night. As a guild, they had already reached into the top ten after a couple of hours grinding away, filling the map information and destroying groups of monsters along the way. The monster type of the floor, were mostly snow type creatures. Snow sprites, snow wolves, magically moving snow men, large beasts with a snow element, polar bears...it was quite a variety.

The group continued smoothly onward, the present count steadily growing. There was only a chance that a monster would drop a present, but they were dropping quite frequently when grouping them up. With the continued atmosphere of their march onward, others who noticed their march lost their confidence. Others were either too greedy that they didn't group up with anyone, or the groups of others just weren't coordinated enough to be able to pull off such cleanly wiping out the monsters.

At least, it didn't seem the violent people were present. They were suspected by most to regardless aim for killing people for their presents, but maybe they were waiting until closer to the final day. There weren't a large amount of people who could be seen collecting presents though. Most people had decided that without a strong guild or group, it wasn't worth it to even try. Either because of the strong groups who were out and doing the event, or because of the violent people who had formed a group. Even if the violent people weren't broadcasting it, everyone knew to avoid the guild they created, Laughing Coffin. A very familiar name among Laughing Coffin, was the guild leader. PoH.

The violent group were intelligent enough that currently, even if Beta were split up, they were too strong to recklessly attack like they had before. They had even planned before. The difference was, that PoH was trying to learn from the previous encounter, and turn those who joined him in the guild into a strong force that would be able to match Beta.

There was nothing that could be done about them unfortunately. There was another guild whose aim was to put their own effort into clearing the game called The Army. Those people were acting more like law enforcement than anything else, even though there were very few people who were given the prison teleport crystal, and none were within the ranks of The Army. Those people were nearly as unpopular as Laughing Coffin, for their attitude toward people who were afraid of leaving the safe zones. They pushed for everyone to join them who weren't in a guild. They did their best to force and make people feel guilty for not doing their own part toward getting out of the game. Their only decent points were that they wanted to put a stop to Laughing Coffin, and they wanted to do their best to get out of the game. They were basically just a large group of vigilantes. They had no power, and no right to push for their influence, but they still got in everyone's face and gave themselves a bad image for it.

In comparison to the big names of Beta, Laughing Coffin and The Army, other guilds were as minimal as mid bosses within the game. Possibly one per floor they had been through. The best known guild was Beta of course, and everyone really did want to join, whether for good or for bad reasons. Good reasons could include being helped to pursue being stronger and later be able to help with getting out. Good reasons could also lean to just having the guild tag to protect themselves from the violent Laughing Coffin or so they wouldn't be harassed by The Army. Bad reasons could be as a spy, or as a detriment sent from Laughing Coffin, or some who insisted that Beta should absorb The Army into their guild. Beta was expected by those in The Army, that they should be forthwith in accepting people like them into their guild. The higher ranking people within The Army were upset with how Beta handled communication between them. As soon as Ana was brought into the conversation instead of the others talking with The Army, the conversation would end. Ana was like a swift strike of a judge to call the end of a trial. The Army's leaders didn't like to admit how flawless the reasoning Ana had to shutting down The Army. She told them of their immaturity, the flaws of their approach to the others who were trapped. She told them of how flawed their entire organization was, as there was no organization. There were no dedicated people to any one thing, and no skilled fighters in their ranks. Ana scolded them like a world power telling an immature small country they were going about their entire meaning wrong.

Ana had to remind herself often, that they weren't in a political situation. They were all simply a bunch of people, stuck inside of a game trying to get out, and not be stopped by fools who intended to stay in the game. Unfortunately, despite Ana's heavy distaste for politics, the influential people within Aincrad were turning everything into a political situation. The Army mostly turned it into the political situation, but everyone was dragged into it.

As Ana's thoughts dragged on through the day while messages attacked the members of Beta repeatedly, they cleared group after group of monsters. When they found the dungeon, Ana instructed everyone to disable notifications for messages sent to them from the instigators.

As she had outlined for the plan before to Agil, they steadily worked their way through the dungeon. When they reached the door to the boss room before lunch time, Ana instructed everyone to have their snacks before going in, so that they wouldn't have their hunger gauge be a nuisance during the fight. After opening the door, they went in. Their opponent was a more boss-like polar bear type enemy.

Agil was instructed to support the regular off tank team with Kirito Asuna and Sachi, while Ana as per usual had Leafa and Sinon support her. Yuuki and Lisbeth fought from the sides of the monster. With their positioning cleared and everything clearly understood, the battle began.

The battle went smoothly. Agil had been uncertain how much to trust that Beta alone could handle the boss battle, even with his addition, but he was gratefully affirmed that they were safe. Between Ana and Kirito's ability with dodging and landing critical strikes without using skills, throwing in a powerful skill once in a while to add in some more damage, while everyone else simply focused on dishing out the damage, it was a one sided battle completely.

The boss dropped after the twelve minute rain of strikes, and while the usual unimpressive dropped equipment showed up with materials, there was also quite a drop on presents. Ten presents were dropped by the monster, and the decision of everyone other than Ana, was to give them to Ana so that she would end up with the highest individual collection, or at least better compete for it. At the current pace of collecting presents, the individual leader board showed that before Ana was given the floor boss presents, she was already within the top five for collected presents. Kirito and Sinon were right behind her for the next two places behind her. With the ten present boost to Ana's collection, she shot up to the second place rank.

After clearing the floor boss, the team continued up through Aincrad to the next floor, and enjoyed their lunch and some rest at the new town. Following the plan, they ignored the teleport plaza, and when lunch was finished, they proceeded to continue scouring the next floor for the dungeon, eliminating groups of monsters at a time. They were spit up again so that they could cover more ground. With Ana, Kirito, Asuna and Agil separated from the others again, Agil was curious.

"Why did we split like this again? Wouldn't it be better to have me work with different members of the team?"

Ana shook her head and her text window popped in front of him as she dashed ahead to pull the next group of monsters.

"The others are training on their current grouping, not having myself or Kirito tanking gives Yuuki the chance to grow, and the rest the chance to learn how to adapt. Plus, I'm still testing if you're worth the effort to continue training or stick you with running a guild store."

With that answer, Agil sighed, shook his head and smiled when he looked at Ana. He had a feeling he already knew what her opinion was on him. She was fast at learning people after all. He hoped that she would let him run a guild store, but if he proved himself good enough with combat, then it was entirely possible that he would end up continuing with his current routine. He was already at the point that it was most likely decided.

They continued on until evening with rounding up the monsters and dispatching them. Before evening, every person in Beta was on the individual ranking top ten for gathering the presents. After dinner, Ana worked on sorting through the items everyone had from the near constant progression.

Agil noticed Ana staying in the restaurant area of the inn, sorting through everything and he decided to stay, offer his help with the organizing. Ana didn't do anything other than what she was already doing, but somehow in her movements she sent him a list of items to sort through. He was going through the materials they had collected between the fifth and sixth floor for the day, while she was going through the ingredients. She had already half gone through both, so the work load was about split evenly.

Ana didn't open up at all to the notion of conversation at all despite him being there do his part in organizing the items. He was able to tell from what she had done with the materials was a very simple, understandable way of organizing them, so he continued from there. He wondered about Ana's strengths within the game though. How was she so thoroughly prepared for everything? From material and ingredient knowledge, to physical capability with the monsters for battle that she had little to no trouble dealing with them, to her crafting. He still didn't have his own set of gear prepared by her, so he was curious to see how the blind artist would create one of her masterpieces the rest of Beta besides him sported.

Before he managed half through the list he had been given to sort through, Ana stood up and moved to a small crafting station by the kitchen, a preparation section for ingredients. She was finished organizing them, obviously. She operated that fast...he was just baffled at how well she was handling everything. Seeing her literally perform every action, actually grinding and mixing ingredients to make a more realistic ingredient he might use in his own cooking only made him wonder if that was how everything she crafted was made. Real, actual skill in performing every craft, was really how she did everything. It was how the system operated, and he knew part of it. He just didn't know that the realism extended into the crafting so much. There was the automatic crafting which anyone who touched it knew about, but then he discovered from watching her that there was another form of crafting.

"Finish organizing the materials. I'm going to need some for preparing for our food tomorrow."

Agil was startled by the sudden text window popping in front of his eyes. He shook his head and sighed in disappointment how easily he got swept up into Ana's impressive actions. Ana smiled barely enough to be noticed. Agil could only barely pick out the smile on her face, since her eyes were hidden and other than the expression of her mouth she was near completely calculated. He had to admit, Ana was beautiful, even with her eyes covered. He busied himself with the rest of the material list organization, and hurried them over to her.

Agil tapped the sides of his face a little, reminding himself that he was in a game, and Ana was off limits. Because he already had a wife, and Ana already had a fiancee. He could admit to enjoying the sight of her beauty, but that was all he would indulge in. The atmosphere around her was somewhat similar to his wife. The sense of responsibility. The sense of her knowing exactly how to handle whatever showed up. The wise and motherly kind of personality which exuded with her more caring actions. At first, Ana felt even younger than most of the others in Beta because of her height and that she didn't _look_ aged.

Ana finished preparing the ingredients and materials not even a minute after Agil handed the materials back to her through the inventory exchange. When all was said and done, he was interrupted in his thoughts with another text window.

"Thank you for your help tonight. Now go get some sleep. We all have a lot of work tomorrow, and you won't have my presence for your training and event present gathering. I'm going to be working on updating everyone's gear in the afternoon while the rest of you will be concentrating on working on your team work."

Agil thought to ask about how Ana judged his position, whether he would be accepted as running the guild store in the future, or if he would be slated to the battling force.

"What did you think of my first day with the guild?"

Ana stopped after taking her first step up the stairs and continued after a momentary pause.

"Passing grade with the material sorting and your fighting. You have some more work to do before you'll get a definite answer."

Agil smiled and laughed softly. Ana really did give off the kind of air his wife did. Totally in control. He fully respected her, and he knew it would take effort to pass her test.

The night passed uneventfully, and so too did the morning of the next day. The morning was spent returning everyone in the guild to the top of the event leader boards. The guild as a whole had more than triple the amount of presents any of the guilds behind had, so they were completely safe on their present collection there. Otherwise, Kirito was keeping up with Ana's score, and would pass with the afternoon collection. After the morning, Beta had a clear lead in both the individual and guild leader boards.

Ana didn't care to personally top the individual leader boards, and as far as needing the resurrection item, so far, there wasn't enough risk or need for the item within Beta. Everyone was perfectly fine with the current difficulty. The ones with more risk who might need the resurrection item she could think of off the top of her head, would be Fuurinkazan and Moonlight Black Cats. Both guilds were still learning the monsters, and they were ill equipped for the fifth floor alone, let alone the dungeon monsters.

Ana set to redesigning through the afternoon. She could easily just take the newer, higher level version of the materials she needed for crafting the newer equipment, but she felt it would be boring to stick with the same design all of the time.

For Kirito, Ana could imagine a long battle dress being a good switch up. The shorter battle dresses encouraged some of the extra useless movements Kirito made, so the longer dress would be a constant reminder to Kirito to calm down on her movements. Dodging would still be excessively important for her, but she could still do the required dodging if she properly followed Ana's methods for dodging at the current level.

Ana couldn't leave Kirito's battle dress a simple black though. Ana attached the black leather sub armour to the main metal armour pieces which were a pure polished bright silver. The metal armour was primarily a protective chest piece, which had jointed panels which gave a pleating effect to the skirt section of the battle dress. With a black and silver partial circlet to pull some of Kirito's hair back and give her more of her own sight was her new head armour, a folding armour neck piece following the colour scheme and matching black gloves and boots, Kirito's set was ready as far as what she would wear.

For Kirito's new sword, the over the top design which had been done before, an oversized obvious magic sword needed to be replaced. Ana worked at redesigning Kirito's sword to be more of a thin, but heavy long sword, to help Kirito slow down a little and focus more on putting strength and calm behind her strikes. The shape was reminiscent of a more traditional sword, with the guard separating the handle being a slight backward cup to protect the hand. The blade itself was indented in the face section with a channel for outputting the magic element Kirito would choose to use. As for the handle, the traditional wound leather grip as per usual worked best for Kirito's grip of the sword, with a good thickness to the handle, which matched the blade. The pommel of the sword was the source for the strength of the magic, so using the best quality amethyst gemstone polished and worked added onto the butt of the sword, she was finished. She had worked the craft so that the primary sword Kirito would use, had a black primary colour scheme to the face, while the edges and magic indentation were coloured a pure white.

Ana put everything together in her imagination and sighed when she imagined the finished picture. So far, even though Kirito had the skill unlocked to dual wield her one handed swords like the long swords, she still only used one sword at a time. It seemed Kirito had learned her lesson and was sticking to her kendo as to follow with Leafa's habits.

After making Kirito's secondary sword which reflected the colour scheme of the primary sword, Ana started working on Leafa's new equipment. For Leafa, she also needed to be tamed a little on her movements. Ana could tell that Leafa's kendo was falling apart, so she made the battle dress even in length with Kirito's battle dress. In suiting to Leafa's light blond hair, Ana used pixie like colours for Leafa's battle dress. A pastel-like light green for the fabric, with white leather holding the polished silver matching metal armour. Ana also created a protective hair band for Leafa. Instead of the partial circlet Kirito would wear, Leafa would have her hair tied back. The hair band would hold Leafa's hair into a dropping tail, in the form of a green and white metal clasp. The clasp also had the function to extend Leafa's hair length however much she desired from the menu as far as effects Ana added on. The other equipment such as scarf she made for Leafa instead of Kirito's armour for the neck, were white, along with her boots and gloves being primary white with the matching green to the rest of her outfit as a lining to the pieces of equipment.

For Leafa's sword, Ana used much the same idea as with Kirito's sword, only shaping it more into a katana shape. With a white colouring to the metal and the matching bright green for the guard and handle bindings.

For Sinon, she needed a more agile design to her outfit for freeing up her archery. With that thought, the same design with Kirito's colour scheme would be beneficial to create as well for Kirito's archery. Ana began working with Sinon's archery outfit first. Using a slightly darker green colour from Leafa's scheme for the cloth, Ana designed a shorter tunic dress for the cloth. As well for the cloth, Sinon's cloth gear extended long for her fingerless gloves to her upper arms, stopping half a foot from the shoulder, and matching with the socks which stopped half a foot from the bottom of the tunic. The next layer, for the leather, Ana crafted black boots, a black vest and black gloves which for her stringing hand had the traditional fingers covered, while the rest were fingerless gloves which only extended to the elbow. For the metal armour, Ana made a chest guard for Sinon's torso armour, a metal wrist guard shaped as an archery guard for Sinon's dominant side, and a simple wrist guard for helping Sinon's wrist. For head gear, Kirito had spilled the information to Ana that Sinon outside of the game wore glasses, so Ana crafted a pair of glasses which were enchanted to boost the vision Sinon would have for greater range. Sinon's neck gear was a long red scarf, reminiscent to the telling design of some famous archers of the past.

Ana copied everything from Sinon's equipment to Kirito's archery set including the glasses, and began working on their new bows. For their bows, Ana was still sticking to the traditional style of compound bow, adding a slight armour of a thin plate metal to the sides of the handle, and to the stringing sections. The bows were still by far the strongest weapons with their automatic wind enchantment which only added to the speed and strength of the arrows which were more bullets which were fired with the method of arrows.

Ana thought of working on her own set after working on the archery sets for Kirito and Sinon, but she shook her head and continued to Asuna's set next. Since Asuna liked the red and white colour scheme not only for their attraction in her eyes as her favourite colours together, as well for the Canadian flag colours and her fascination and liking of Ana, Ana started with the white for the cloth of a slightly long tunic dress to help her with her mobility, and long white socks as well as the gloves. Asuna for some reason liked her tunic to have a raised collar, which protected the neck, so that was included in her tunic, though for the collar section, Ana made it so that it was tied up, and could be undone if Asuna would decide it was too constricting on her movement with her neck. The cloth was a more modern design, with the red lining the cloth. Ana added red with the leather armour which held the silver metal armour into place, protecting her feet in thin knee high boots, and forearm guards. For Asuna's head gear, she decided she wanted matching metal ear clasps to match with Ana's which showed through automatically from the scan of her head. They would match with elf like protected metal ears. Asuna had recently started wearing a section of her hair in a backward crown braid which only added a small suiting decoration to her appearance. Since sleeping with her hair that way in the game wouldn't disturb it, she wouldn't have to worry about rearranging her hair, even though she had saved her physical appearance as a setting in her status screen.

For Asuna's new rapier, Ana crafted it with a traditional appearance instead of the needle pokers used in modern competitions. With the slightly thicker blade which had bladed edges for slashing as well as sweeping and then the most important fine reinforced tip, the blade was a masterpiece. With a red indent along the face of the blade, a light blue cup guard for protecting her hand and the red binding handle with a pearl for enhancing the healing magic on the pommel, the rapier was finished.

Next up was Sachi's equipment. For Sachi, she had a more protective, full armoured style to her set. Mostly for setting her mind at ease in case she was in range of taking an enemy attack. There was plenty of mobility in mind however so that she could make full use of her spear with range and the more agile style her two ended spears afforded her. For the cloth of Sachi's gear, she had a slightly dark blue colour in the shape of tunic, traditional short socks, and forearm base for the rest of her armour she would wear over top. For the leather, Sachi's gear was less equipped, just small details for the logic of the weapon being secured and giving her normal boots and gloves. For the metal, she had a full plate torso in a lighter polished blue colour, metal adorning her boots and covering the rest of her arm in plate style. For her head, Sachi's armour was a more traditional crown like the valkyrie warriors in European past, protecting her forehead, part of her cheeks, her ears in the shape of wings and it wound around behind to protect the back of her head, all in the same colour and matching to the rest of her armour.

Sachi's spear, was no longer going to be just the two ended spear, but she would also have a traditional battle staff. Matching with the colours of her armour, and following the traditional style for a flower head spear, Sachi's two end spear was mostly the same, just with the upgraded materials. For her battle staff, The primary make of the body was a wood which was lined with strong light metal for enhancing the durability and strength, as well as having bludgeoning thick ends. The entirety of her battle staff was light in weight, and meant for the mobility design of the armour.

Onto Lisbeth next, she also for her battle set would have a plate armour design, very similar in granting her mobility to Sachi, but more so that Lisbeth could better make use of chaining movements when swinging around her magic hammer instead of being carried totally with the movements of a single swing with its weight. Lisbeth was more interested in a darker pink colour for being added to her armour since she had grown tired of the more red she had been matching with Asuna's equipment. With the mostly dark pink colour for the plate armour, a white cloth underneath and black leather for the leather sections of her armour, Lisbeth's set was a near identical swap of Sachi's armour, the colour being the only difference. As for the head gear, Lisbeth decided on a smithing headband, which would also be the same as with her crafting gear. Ana didn't worry about Lisbeth's crafting gear for the time being since Lisbeth still needed to catch up in her crafting level as far as learning and her ability with following the learning through. She was a little slow, but eventually Lisbeth would catch up. She already had some benefits over Ana on the making of weapons, but without the superior quality able to be achieved, Lisbeth was concentrating on that kind of catching up.

For Lisbeth's magic hammer, she was picky about it not matching the design of her armour, instead asking it to be designed to follow the Norse legend of the Asgard God of thunder, Thor. It was more effort in designing it, but Ana took her time and did her work in granting Lisbeth's request. After all, Lisbeth had to settle so far with hammers that apparently looked like toys since they didn't have a traditional feel to them.

Next up was Yuuki's equipment. Ana would redesign everything...but she instead stuck with the same design, updated the materials and kept with the colour scheme for the purple hakama and traditional designed katana as her magic sword. She as well didn't focus on the dual wielding she had been granted, trying to pick up and learn from Kirito and Leafa's kendo since kendo was the root of how to use a katana properly as far as sword styles still modernly practised.

After getting all the girls of Beta aside Ana herself out of the way, Ana started working on Agil's equipment. For Agil, he was a battle axe user. He, like Lisbeth and Sachi, would be primarily armoured in plate style gear since the slow and heavy movements of the battle axe left him open a lot to attacks. Ana decided to make two sets of armour for him, and two different axes. A large two handed battle axe set, and a light and mobile one handed axe type of set. For Agil...Ana hadn't the first clue what kind of colour scheme she should go for with him. Taking into consideration from what she had heard about his appearance, perhaps a black knight kind of appearance would work for the heavy armour... After a moment of deliberation on the thought, Ana decided it and she set to crafting the black armour with silver trim and white cloth underneath for his heavier armour set. For the lighter armour set, she kept with the colour scheme and went with a more ranger type of feel to his armour, a sectional chest piece for the metal with the connecting pauldron for his dominant side, with mostly leather armour covering his torso, arms and legs, sectioned metal mostly decorating the arms and legs. For his head, following the idea of the black knight idea for that set, he would get a full style helmet. For the ranger style, Ana couldn't make up her mind on anything and decided to leave it up to him what kind of head gear he wanted.

For Agil's weapons, she decided to go again with the traditional designs. For the battle axe, she designed a two side large head battle axe like he already wielded, black metal in colour for the entirety of the body for it. There were small sections cut out of the metal to reduce the weight of it, and it was reinforced in the crafting process so it would retain its strength. If Ana left it at its full weight, it would be possible the weapon would be too heavy for Agil to use at his current level. For the one handed axe, a similar style was incorporated into the head of the axe, but Ana kept the one handed axe one sided so that it could be used properly as a one handed axe. Maintained with the black colouring for the metal, Agil's set was finished.

Finally finished working on everyone else' equipment, Ana began working on her own. Colour scheme, white and silver. White for her cloth, silver for the colour of her metal armour. She was the lightest armoured out of everyone, to help with keeping her nimble movements and agility in place. One armour set for her entire personal gear set which would work with her primary weapons of her magic sword, and with her bow. She decided to change up the bow, but she was going to save working on her weapon changes for last.

For Ana's outfit, a hooded pure white short tunic with white shorts reaching to her knees, short socks to fit under her boots comfortably and base archery style gloves for her cloth. Leather for her boots, fastening her metal armour, and the proper placement of her gloves. The metal was mostly a decoration on the boots and gloves, a ranger style chest plate with pauldron connected in similarity to Agil's lighter set, and she wore her usual thin eye covering visor for her head gear, but this time added blind glasses, black tinted with the blinding option to match with Sinon and Kirito's archery sets. Ana's hood would force her to either bind her hair back, or fasten it down into some kind of controlled form out the front of the hood.

For her personal weapons, she simplified everything, making everything more agile to work with. As with usual for her old personal gear, after she finished with the crafting for the time being, she deposited it all into her personal extra storage accessible through the city. Not yet had she decided to put her extra equipment into the guild storage like everyone else. Everyone in Beta knew about Ana being able to use every weapon type, but she wasn't too happy to admit how much time she was wasting, putting into understanding the later skills of the other weapon types within the game. She didn't need to know more than half of what she knew, because so far even if she was learning to train the guild in their weapon types, Beta only used a few of the weapon types when putting everything into consideration.

Ana checked the time after she finished the crafting, and realized she still had some time before dinner. She decided to take her time and check on the locations of the rest of the guild, cover some of the ground that hadn't yet been covered before joining up with everyone. For the current floor, outside of the safe zone in the town it was practically a blizzard. Outside of battling conditions, she knew the teams were using the map to accurately continue about. She had received some reports during their time out there that they were having some difficulty at first with attuning to fighting in the blizzard conditions, but the situation grew better over time and experience, adjusting how they fight to the conditions. Tanking was all the more important, as Kirito and Yuuki quickly discovered.

Ana was rather confident in her movements in the snow, since she was used to traversing in the snow back in her home town in Canada. She readied herself, and headed out to the starting point where she would be able to calmly continue the mapping. Of course, it would be a lot more difficult in the blizzard environment of the floor to find the dungeon, so she was concerned the other groups might have missed it. She was almost tempted to go back through the mapped areas or closer to the spiral mapping technique for the floor they were doing, and see if she could find the dungeon in that way.

Regardless, as soon as she could hear a group of monsters trudging through the snow, she readied her new, more agile designed bow, and loosed a quick volley of arrows, one after another so fast and strong, the gathering of monsters were punched through with holes, dead in the individual shots they received.

Ana took her time following the mapping path, and she kept going until the time reached six in the evening before turning around and heading back. In the span of over an hour laying waste to monsters of the field, she had killed over a hundred monsters, and over ninety presents dropped. Perhaps it was because of being on a higher floors, perhaps it was because she was taking on whole groups of enemies, but she was getting a high drop rate. Out of curiosity, she checked the leader boards, and she had managed to rise back to the top of the individual rankings by thirty presents ahead of Kirito and Sinon, who were tied for the second place spot. Behind them was Asuna, then Leafa, then Yuuki, all the way until Agil at the bottom of the rankings for Beta being in the individual rankings for the event. As far as guild standing in the event, it seemed Laughing Coffin had taken a large step up in their numbers, near rivalling Beta. Ana decided to turn on her private messaging notifications out of concern since there was no fair method for those people to catch up so quickly. Either they were killing people and taking their presents, or threatening other people and monopolizing a large spawning area for monsters. Either method for their large number of collection was bad, but killing others for their participation in the event was completely disgusting.

When Ana was flooded with private message alerts, she sighed and sat down in the kitchen of the inn Beta were using, and she started looking through them. Sure enough, the messages were hardly good news. From spam of people trying to apply into the guild, to the very worst news, Ana was ready to shoot to her feet and activate the teleport gate and make a stand against Laughing Coffin. As of the most recent message about Laughing Coffin, the Midnight Black Cats reported over twenty people had been murdered by Laughing Coffin for their presents. With that message, Ana rose to her feet and she had made her decision. Beta was clearly ahead with their head start, so she was going to let Kirito and Asuna handle dinner. She had a job to do.


	23. Chapter 23

~Culling Killers~

When the teleport gate was activated and Ana teleported to the fifth floor after telling Beta to stay behind, Ana's presence caused an immediate uproar. There was at least one member of Laughing coffin, with a bright glowing orange marker above their head within range of the teleport plaza. Ana pulled the prison teleporting crystal from her inventory and activated it, sending the criminal to the prison immediately. The disappearance of the criminal from the crowd in the teleport plaza was essentially a message to everyone. Clear a path.

Now, Ana was the only person within Aincrad with a prison teleport crystal in her possession, the other two people who had been given one having been killed as another reason for being targeted by Laughing Coffin.

There were many people in the area with guild tags beside their names overhead. Most belonging to The Army. Some belonged to unknown guilds of people who intended to disband if they could join Beta. There was even a Beta fan guild. All of these people made plenty of space for Ana, and they directed her out to the fields. It was already close to the night time environment setting in, and the atmosphere gave some people the idea of distress, that Ana was heading to her own death against Laughing Coffin. Others took it as a sign that Laughing Coffin were about to be purged from Aincrad.

When Ana arrived at the field and a smaller group of Laughing Coffin were bullying...Midnight Black Cats, Ana readied her sword and activated the prison teleporting crystal, sending all in range to the prison. As she moved forward, she parried throwing knives which she expected, even thrown short swords of NPC make quality. It was the show of what kind of equipment dropped from those Laughing Coffin killed. They were perfectly fine throwing away items from the people they killed.

Ana realized PoH wasn't part of the small group of Laughing Coffin in front of her, but she couldn't easily forgive those people for how they were attacking others within the game. Especially Sachi's original group. Using an aggro drawing skill, beast aura, all of the combat from Laughing Coffin was redirected to Ana. She had already very easily learned how terrible their fighting style was and how easy it would be to handle getting rid of them. She wouldn't kill them. Just remove their legs so they would have a twenty four hour timer on being incapable of so much as attempting to escape the under dungeon and prisons.

The fastest of the group from Laughing Coffin closed in with a falling mountain attack, a great sword downward heavy attack. With a swift dodge to the side as Ana walked forward, she brought her sword to the side, and carved through the waist easily, his momentum removing his bottom half from his top half. It wasn't a critical amount of damage, but it was a horrible scene which ended with the crystal tapping to his lower half, sending his entire body to the prison. Because Ana was fighting orange marker players, her marker wouldn't change to orange, it seemed. Or perhaps it was because she held a prison transport crystal. With that kind of assurance, she didn't need worry about harming Laughing Coffin. The next person who reached her lost his arms and then his legs before the crystal was touched to his forehead and he disappeared.

The rest managed to direct the aggro generation and set themselves up in a basic surrounding manoeuvre. As they couldn't fight the aggro any longer, they charged forward. Ana knew exactly how their movements were coming at her. With a ducking motion, she removed the feet of the fastest person, carved up removing through the knees of the next one beside him, carved through the hips of the next, and it continued. They were well spaced after that, so she had to jump up and use one as leverage before lunging at them and cutting at least one leg from each. When all the small group from Laughing Coffin who remained there, were injured but not dying, on the ground, Ana patiently tapped the prison crystal to their foreheads, sending them to the prison.

People who had been watching and led Ana to them, some had turned away, some were fascinated by the unforeseen brutality in cutting Laughing Coffin apart, and some became sick. The hunt continued as some of those who supported Ana's hunt of Laughing Coffin, telling her the next place to find them. Before she followed, she sent an assuring message to Midnight Black Cats.

"You did well fighting them. Next time, stay in the safe zone when you see those guild tags."

Those words alone were a relief and a burden to the small and still inexperienced guild.

"This way! There's a bigger group of them killing monsters right now! They killed my friends today!"

Those words from a teenage boy were furious and driven. When checking the guild information he was tied to, he was the only out of six who were "online". Laughing Coffin murdered five people from his guild.

Ana continued on, following the lead of people who'd lost their friends to Laughing Coffin. The next group were larger, and they were indeed only killing monsters for the time being, but they were also members of Laughing Coffin, and they all had orange markers over their heads. As swiftly and smoothly as with the first group, Ana dealt with them. Still, PoH wasn't among those she punished and sent dismembered to the prison. Until fifty members of Laughing Coffin, all groups accounted for were dealt with and sent to prison injured, there were people who were completely excited to see the murderers tossed around easily by Ana. When Ana finished cleaning up the tracked groups of Laughing Coffin, she quickly sent a message to Kirito requesting transportation back up to the sixth floor.

Kirito didn't respond right away, and with Ana's concern, she hurried back to the town and accessed the teleport gate. The moment she returned to the sixth floor, she had to dodge a clash of blades between Yuuki and PoH. As soon as the blades clashed and locked, Ana moved into place and pushed out a burst strike to disarm the both of them. Yuuki had learned already to withdraw her equipment to her inventory immediately after being disarmed, or there was a possibility of someone attempting to steal her weapon.

PoH, on the other hand, was handed another weapon from a close member of Laughing Coffin, and he swung down the jagged designed dagger toward Ana's face. She returned his attack not with her weapon, but still bare handed by grabbing his wrist, snapping it backward, driving her knee into his groin, fist into his abdomen in lifting him up, and she threw up onto the nearest members of Laughing Coffin before finally drawing her sword. Ana sent a message to Yuuki to put her sword away, Ana having figured out that with Yuuki's orange marker, it was because of Ana's possession of the prison crystal that Ana was exempt from having an orange marker. Ana couldn't use the large range of the full use of the crystal to send the whole group of Laughing Coffin nearby to the prison.

PoH stood up and stared furiously toward Ana. The rest of Laughing Coffin shouted and charged at Ana.

Needless to say, Ana was in a crowd large and violent enough to trigger her adrenaline form of anxiety attack, and that brought on the full destruction Laughing Coffin sought, on themselves. Ana charged through them, lopping off arms, legs, and gouged them deep in the stomach, turning one person into a weapon for incapacitating another. Laughing Coffin, including PoH were literally torn apart. After nearly a minute of Ana's slaughter of them, all of Laughing Coffin were completely immobilized.

When Ana pulled the crystal from her inventory and slowly tapped away at their foreheads, the largest group of murderers were sent to the prison. Ana saved sending PoH off until the end, and she decided to ask him a question.

"What gave you the idea that you stood a chance even without me here? The rest of Beta would simply have orange markers for a while after doing the same I just did. Because we don't kill other people. Scum like you who kill other people to preserve your time here, are hopeless. Regardless how much you try to delay progression out of this game, after a certain amount of time delayed, even you sorry lot would be killed off because of the medical system. I suppose that might make some sort of sense, but you seemed to have some sort of passion for what you did. Dying in what would essentially be suicide is truly pathetic. I wonder if you'll have any sort of chance escaping the immortal killer of the under dungeon..."

After PoH finished reading through the message sent to him from Ana, he glared at her. He was a pathetic mess. He wasn't missing both his arms, but all of his fingers. He wasn't just missing his legs, but his legs had been carved apart, from the toes being lopped off, to the feet, to the knees, to the hips, and to the waist. He survived on a sliver of health after Ana's assault on him.

"H-how...? How are you still green?"

Ana motioned with the prison crystal in her hand.

"Administrator authority. To punish scum who decide to be criminals."

He growled and used his elbows to try and lift himself up enough to hit her, before she hit him with a minor healing potion, elbowed him in the throat, following up with the crystal tapping to his forehead.

"Are you okay, Mom?!"

Asuna's outburst in calling Ana her mother confused all but Kirito in the group, but they were more worried for Ana when she began to slump down in her exhaustion, her adrenaline having worn out. Ana smiled when she felt Asuna's concerned expression close to her face.

"I'm fine. I could really do with dinner and some rest though...damned Laughing Coffin made me use my adrenaline two days in a row..."

Ana used her voice, and it only alarmed them more. Hearing her voice was a tell for them, that Ana was not doing well at all. Asuna and Kirito picked Ana up by her shoulders and walked her back to the inn they were using. There, Ana was laid down in a bed. Asuna's stew she had made for everyone's dinner was set down in front of Ana, and she started the motions to feed Ana the liquid part of the stew first. Ana breathed out a whisper of a laugh and took the spoon from Asuna.

"Thank you, Asuna. I'm well enough to feed myself though. What kind of mother would I be at my age to let my daughter worry about me so much?"

Asuna was worried when Ana took the spoon away, but Ana's control and lack of shaking told Asuna she was worrying too much. Ana truly was doing fine. Asuna turned her face to look at Ana again, realizing Ana had called Asuna her daughter. Asuna had a wonderful feeling filling her as she saw Ana enjoying the stew Asuna had made. That woman she respected so much, that Asuna couldn't help but feel happy that Ana enjoyed her cooking. The woman who kept her safe and assured her near every day within Aincrad. Ana was a woman that Asuna had realized she couldn't imagine as any other than her true mother.

Ana finished eating her stew, and sent a message to the rest of the guild, asking to leave herself and Asuna alone in the room. As soon as they were alone, Ana took a deep breath, reminding herself that she normally only breathed through the nose outside of the game, and she looked Asuna in the eyes.

"You have a younger sister, if we decide to be family."

Asuna's gaze drifted from Ana's face to her belly with the thought of that being the meaning by Ana's words.

"Not from my current pregnancy. I have a little girl who will be ten years of age in five months. I had her when I was too young, and because of that, she had been adopted by other people who wanted dearly to raise a child. Because of unfortunate circumstances on their end, they can't take care of my daughter for as long as they hoped. When we get out of here, Anabelle will be moving in with us. Are you ready to be an elder sister to her?"

Ana was very serious. She wanted to know that Asuna was prepared to be a good, responsible role model for Anabelle when the time would come. Asuna only showed happiness hearing about Anabelle. She nodded her head and grabbed hold of Ana's free hands, holding them with a firm grip.

"I've always wanted to have a younger sibling! What is Anabelle like?"

Ana smiled when Asuna gave her a nearly perfect reaction.

"Ryra says she looks just like a young version of myself. She's very mature, wise and strong for her age. I would hope that you shouldn't have a difficult time keeping up with her growth as a younger sibling. She is learning Japanese now as part of her lessons, so there should be no issue with talking to each other. Ah...if you have any interest in archery, she has taken that up as a hobby."

Asuna only grew more and more happy, laughing softly as Ana began to add another thing to the list of how precious Anabelle was. Asuna could imagine it. A smaller, younger version of Ana running around with uncontainable energy, and the developing maturity Ana currently had. Being around two generations of such amazing people would be entirely wonderful, she thought. She put away the empty dinner dish and put away the bed table, before leaning back to lay beside Ana, wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"I'm so excited to be a big sister!"

Ana smiled and brushed Asuna's hair with her fingers. Asuna only snuggled closer and felt more the child between them, showing that despite Ana's lack of showing her age, Asuna was definitely the child in their relationship.

Kirito looked in on the situation and smiled when she saw Ana and Asuna being so close. Kirito quickly slipped into the room and slid onto the other side of the bed, showing her feelings about the situation. She knew that Asuna would be an elder sister with being accepted into Ana's family, but hearing that Asuna would have another younger sister so soon was so soothing to hear. The results of how adorable and cuddly Asuna and Kirito had become, Ana sent a communication link to Ryra.

Ryra took seconds to pick up from the other end, and Ana sighed as Ryra answered, feeling that Asuna and Kirito had fallen asleep. Ana shook her head lightly aiming toward the window so Ryra could see her properly.

"Wh-what's going on...? And you had another adrenaline rush...!"

Ryra noticed their sleeping, and reduced her voice to a whisper so she wouldn't wake Kirito and Asuna.

Ana sighed yet again and shook her head. She disabled her visor, and managed to disable her vision even with her eyes open, so she _looked_ at Ryra and began to answer in her whispers, using English.

"There was a large scale attack from the violent guild calling themselves Laughing Coffin. They killed twenty people. In retaliation, I sent all of them to prison after removing their arms and legs. They're all alive, but they might not be for long if they have the nerve to try escaping the under dungeon any time soon. I'll send a list with the names of every player who has a murder under their name. I'd like you to track them down and have them put under police watch if you could, and give them a brain tranquilizer...since those are usually used for putting people into comas, I assume it would work on this end to force them to sleep within the game."

Ryra was staring at Ana through the video feed with horror and she trembled at the thought of just how brutally Ana handled those people. Using the tranquilizers would also go against her practice for keeping her patients alive...but they were likely to die regardless if they didn't realize the danger of leaving where they were.

"Ah, and this was a result of Asuna and Kirito finding out about Anabelle. Apparently I make it very easy for those who consider me a mother to fall asleep when they cuddle me. This was something I feel I needed somehow. They're amazing."

Ryra's mind was drawn away from the conflict which happened before, but only a little as she absorbed the reason for the scene on Ana's side of the communication. So Asuna and Kirito considered Ana a mother? Ryra could understand...somehow.

"I'm glad you're doing so well with them...but as far as the other topic, I can't do as you suggested. At most, I can notify law enforcement and...well, we can't really do anything if they can't find the common sense to stay where they are. We'll...also have to inform the families or anyone close to them outside of there the cause of their passing..."

Ryra felt a heavy weight building in her the longer she held back telling Ana what she thought, about Ana's actions against Laughing Coffin. She took a deep breath, and word by word she built the confidence to ask Ana why she handled things as she had.

"Was...there no other way to deal with Laughing Coffin?"

Ana shook her head. She seemed about to drift to sleep.

"The prison transport crystal isn't an infinite use item when using it for long range purposes. Plus, I couldn't use that effect of the crystal in the larger conflict because others from our group had retaliated to protect themselves, which made them eligible to be sent to the prisons. I also fought and disarmed Laughing Coffin to protect them from the idiocy of trying to escape. I did everything for a good reason."

As Ryra heard more about how the situation really was on Ana's end, her shoulders slumped, exhausted from the stress of what all had been happening. She really couldn't think of any better solution to how Ana had acted. She used her adrenaline rush and still thought clearly enough to only do so much to Laughing Coffin in imprisoning them.

"Ah...the patient with the user PoH. He was the one leading Laughing Coffin. If anything, perhaps I went a little far with him. But then, he's killed three people himself. Two of those people were the other people who had been given the other prison transport crystals. His reasoning along with the others of Laughing Coffin to try and kill all of us, is because so far, we're the best chance anyone has of getting out of the game. Those people consider it a player killer's paradise. PoH even said that because of this all being in a game, there wouldn't be any punishment for it in the end."

Ryra felt sick just hearing about PoH. As far as she knew about him at this point, he was no more than a murderer. Everyone knew their situation inside of the game. He was someone who took advantage of it and murdered as if it were his lifestyle. Someone like that...

The information Ana sent Ryra on all of the members of Laughing Coffin was their real life prison sentence. All of the crimes that each person committed, even people who were in the prisons for murders during the event. Because a murder during the event would put those people into the prison immediately, other people in Laughing Coffin who still so much as landed a hit on one of the people who died were those who were launching the attack on Beta and who still caused trouble with the other people in the game. Those kind of people were all together and making being trapped in the game even more of a horror than it already was.

Ana finally drifted the rest of the way into her sleep, and Ryra was feeling the urge to let sleep take over for herself as well. She saved the information Ana sent her, closed the communication, and decided to take her nap for the day before she would have to make her night rounds, checking on everyone and eventually getting the police involved. Even more horrors were being piled up because of Kayaba Akihiko's death game.


	24. Chapter 24

~Anabelle~

When Ana woke up, it wasn't to the sound of Kirito or Asuna's voices. It was very early morning, two hours before she would normally wake for making breakfast for everyone. Kirito and Asuna were still clung to each side of Asuna, and someone with an unforgettable voice sat on her legs. Ana trembled at the thought. She hadn't dreamt inside of Aincrad...she knew it should be impossible to be able to dream inside of Sword Art Online...but if that person was there with her, then it could only be a dream...or a nightmare.

"Mama, who are these people?"

The voice of the child, Anabelle had fully grown used to calling Ana her mother completely, not tagging Ana's name onto calling her mama any more. Ana didn't need to see to know the situation. If it was real, then somehow Anabelle...

Ana nudged Kirito and Asuna to wake them up, and she sat up as well, grabbing Anabelle in a hug to make sure she was still experiencing the small disconnections of the game. When she felt everything exactly as it should inside of the game she made sure the Anabelle she was holding on to was really her daughter, with a player registration under her. It only took a second to find the answer. Ryra's NerveGear. With the account that had been programmed for Anabelle to talk with Ana.

"Huh...?"

Asuna and Kirito were surprised to see what was happening between them. Ana, holding a child who looked just like a child version of herself.

"What are you doing in here, Anabelle?!"

Ana's panicked, whispered voice, talking in English caught Asuna and Kirito off guard. Hearing Anabelle's name, they staggered off of the bed, barely able to find their footing. They saw Anabelle's expression of being happy to be held by Ana, change to a depressed expression.

"Mama and Papa who adopted me couldn't afford...so we sneaked out Mama Ryra's device you're wearing, and now I get to be with Mama. I know...it's dangerous here...but Mama will take care of me and protect me, right?!"

Anabelle was desperate to hear her mother confirm that Ana was going to be alright. For the time being though, Ana only held Anabelle slightly tighter in her hug.

"This...!"

Ana had virtual tears cascading from her eyes, which she ensured were still blind within the game. Kirito and Asuna were terrified hearing what Anabelle had decidedly gotten herself into. The two of them came together in front of the door, and decided they should call Ryra and find out what the situation was on the other side with Anabelle. She would be in the hospital, right? Ryra answered the other end immediately, but it was only a voice communication.

"Ryra-sensei, is my little sister...is Anabelle-chan really...?"

Asuna's frightened question to Ryra was met with silence for a few seconds. Not complete silence, as the sounds of a hospital bed being moved around and life monitors beeping were present in the background noise.

"Sorry...apparently I was too careless. Is she there with you on that end? I'm just having her set up in the room with Ana..."

Ryra was preoccupied with the work of setting it up so Anabelle would be secured within the hospital room safely. Kirito and Asuna took that as a chance to look at the concern on Ana's face as she continued to hold Anabelle in a tight hug.

"She's...here..."

Kirito answered on if Anabelle was there. She was conflicted on how she should feel seeing the child in the position she was. Anabelle truly took after Ana, still at her age fitting in Ana's embrace in a way that looked completely like a mother and daughter.

"At least I know Anabelle's in good hands on your end..."

Ryra's words were relieved, and the sounds of medical equipment being moved around stopped.

"Well, now she's secured on this end. I hope this doesn't need to be said, but...Anabelle is too young to be helping with the game clearing."

Kirito and Asuna nodded their heads, knowing that Ryra was completely right. Anabelle might take after her mother, but she wasn't even ten years of age. She was still a child, even compared to them. Because of that...but how would they take care of her? How...?

"Mama, let's go have breakfast! I'm feeling hungry. It was so long to find you."

Kirito and Asuna were terrified by those words. Not as much as Ana was though. How long had she been logged in? They weren't even concerned the slightest in hearing Anabelle speak fluent Japanese. Was she okay? Was she healthy?

Ana let go of Anabelle from the hug, and got out of the bed. Anabelle followed her out of the bed and grabbed hold of her right hand, a habit from her adopted parents. Ana took a deep breath and sighed. She aimed her senses at Kirito and Asuna, still hearing the communication buzz connecting with Ryra.

"I'll hold back from the progression myself. As her mother, I have to make sure Anabelle is safe and prepared for her time in here. Don't worry about her safety here, Ryra."

Ana's whispers were loud and clear to everyone in the room. She walked past Kirito and Asuna, Anabelle keeping a steady pace with her slowed walking for Anabelle's sake, and she led Anabelle out and down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Right! Anabelle is going to be totally fine, Ryra-sensei! I promised Mom I would help take care of my little sister...er, I promised Ana I'd-"

"I understand, Asuna. Go and follow through with your decisions. I'm sure having a reliable older sister around will be a good help to Anabelle..."

Ryra closed the communication from her end, and Asuna felt light headed. She...really had promised so much. Was she ready? She had been thinking about getting ready for helping Ana take care of Anabelle after they would get out while in the game, but now she was going to have to do that while in the game, completely unprepared for it.

Kirito was already used to it somewhat, taking care of Shino and Shiro while they were growing up together. She led the way out of the room and to the kitchen, where Ana was showing off to Anabelle, making a mashed fruit rice porridge for her. As they arrived, Ana finished putting the meal together. Anabelle was almost too excited and ready to start eating as soon as it was finished, but as with Ana's motherly habits, she lifted the bowl out of Anabelle's reach and took Anabelle by the hand, leading her out of the kitchen, Kirito and Asuna clearing the path for them. They followed as Ana sat Anabelle and herself at one of the tables, sitting across from them.

Anabelle squirmed in happiness after taking her seat. She looked up and saw Kirito and Asuna again, just sitting across from them. Seeing her and Ana beside each other was truly like seeing two different stages in time.

"It's so good, Mama! What kind of meal is this?"

Ana smiled warmly, her motherly side overthrowing her concerned scolding side for the time being. Ana took a small breath, and explained through her whispers yet again.

"It's a mixed fruit mash with rice porridge. It's a common breakfast meal in some places, and very filling. You did very well keeping your hunger gauge in here under check...the bread items are really like cardboard, aren't they?"

Anabelle giggled when she heard her mother mention the bread.

"It was so gross! And this is so good! Mama's food is the best!"

Ana's smile seemed stuck there, Kirito and Asuna imagined. The smile faded, and Ana began to explain something more, while Anabelle continued eating.

"You had asked before, Anabelle. These people with us, are also like family. Asuna is going to be part of our family as your elder sister. Kirito and Asuna are in a relationship. They also really like cooking like I do, so I won't always be making our food. So please remember your manners when they make food for us, alright?"

Anabelle nodded her head with a beaming smile to Asuna as she acknowledged herself when mentioned. Asuna couldn't keep her emotions in check when she saw Anabelle so blissful about the situation like that. Ana's serious mood continued, and the questioning began.

"So...you said your other parents couldn't afford something? Did they give you this idea? Did they force it on you? Or did they only support you getting the idea to come into this situation?"

Kirito and Asuna were afraid of how serious Ana was toward Anabelle. They could only imagine how scared Anabelle might be, but they knew how terrifying Ana could be. Anabelle only likely heard it as her mother being serious about a mistake that shouldn't have been made.

"It...was my idea, Mama. Other Mama and Papa were so worried about not being able to afford going back home, and I wanted to use this chance to stay with you. They told me not to, but I did it for everyone..."

Anabelle answered with the knowledge that what she did was dangerous, and bad for many reasons, but she also buttered up her answer with good reasons for what she did. Ana was disappointed in Anabelle using her wisdom for something so dangerous and stupid, while Asuna and Kirito were impressed Anabelle was able to talk about the situation as she had.

"Well...you do know, I assume, that you're in danger here. I can only do so much, and we're already all working so much to find our way out-"

"I'm really good at archery, Mama! I could help!"

Anabelle's enthusiasm wasn't appreciated by Ana. Kirito and Asuna realized right away that Anabelle's words weren't going to help her case.

"You're...! Anabelle, this isn't a safe archery training range. This is a very dangerous place, and just yesterday, I had to punish a lot of people for being violent. Those people tried to hurt us. I need you to be safe. Having you along with us will only make you a target for those people. You understand how terribly dangerous this is. Even the monsters could end up being too much..."

Anabelle pouted and stood up.

"...then! Let me prove how good I am!"

Ana didn't have it in her to scold Anabelle for wanting to prove herself. She constantly felt a younger version of herself, searching for a way to prove herself. Ana was always doing her best in the past, to prove herself worthy of doing something...anything other people could. That strength and resolve Anabelle showed was entirely reckless, and should be discouraged...but Ana couldn't just shoot her down.

Ana sighed, stood up from her chair, and Anabelle hopped off of hers, ready to follow. Kirito and Asuna followed them. Ana led them out to the NPC crafting area, and she took her time, making a bow just right for Anabelle's size, traditional and would be used in archery practice. It was also made of materials from the sixth floor in Aincrad, so it was a strong bow. If Anabelle would prove herself, she would strike down a regular enemy like Ana could, in a single shot.

After giving the bow to Anabelle, Ana led them out to the field and she picked out a few individual monsters which wouldn't pull each other, and she pointed out the first target to Anabelle. The horn of the snow troll was an instant killing weak point if struck by a powerful arrow. Anabelle started arming herself with the bow right away, and her quiver which appeared when the bow was considered properly equipped held the arrows she needed. She readied her first arrow, and in seconds, loosed it perfectly, ripping through the horn and into the head of the troll. The troll's dying animation of tumbling back and breaking into shards of data which disappeared, gave Anabelle a window telling her which items the monster dropped.

"That was an incredible shot, Anabelle-chan!"

Kirito was ready to praise Anabelle's impressive shot. Ana sighed and shook her head. She had to admit, if she could protect Anabelle enough, she could be an impressive support in battle. Still, she desperately wanted to give every reason for Anabelle to not be allowed go with them.

Anabelle looked to Ana, and she had a serious expression on her face. She wanted to hear from her mother if she had proved herself. Ana pointed to another lone snow troll, and Anabelle followed the motion as to say that she needed to prove it wasn't a coincidence. Not a fluke, or luck. Ana had her own bow ready, in case Anabelle would miss the killing strike, so that Ana could kill the troll.

Anabelle's shot in fact did miss. It missed to the point, her arrow missed the troll, and pierced into the weak point of another enemy in the distance who chained other monsters to respond. The troll reacted to the attack as well, turning its attention on Anabelle.

In swift reaction to Anabelle's mistake, Ana unleashed a flurry of shots, one after another which destroyed every single monster which had been caught up in the mistake.

"You still need practice, Anabelle. And, if something like that happens again, you don't have the equipment to defend yourself at close range. I could keep on preparing equipment for you as we go along with everyone else I've been fighting alongside, but you understand, right? We'd all be so worried about you that we might also make mistakes. This wasn't about letting you prove yourself. You are strong though, skilled with your archery. I just can't let you risk your life like this."

Ana used English with her whispers as she told Anabelle her reasoning. Kirito and Asuna were puzzled about how the situation could be handled if Ana had decided it was too dangerous for Anabelle. As far as their opinions, Anabelle had every reason to want to be with her mother, but Ana had many responsibilities within Sword Art Online. There were some things that with time could be eased off of Ana's plate, and she could spend more time protecting Anabelle and being her mother instead of the constant heroic presence she had unintentionally built.

Anabelle was sad to hear her mother's verdict. Her sadness didn't last long, however. Anabelle cheered herself up, with the kind of feeling behind her motions that she had no reason to be negative. Kirito and Asuna wondered just how mature Anabelle was. She still looked, and mostly acted her age, like a child. However, they had already seen many hints and proofs of Anabelle being more than just any child of her age.

"We should take turns, though I'll be spending the most time, since she's my daughter. Asuna, Kirito, I have no right to ask this, but I need to keep her safe. We'll take turns, and until everyone is alright without my directly helping with progressing through Aincrad. When everyone has developed a good level of teamwork, and understanding for the monsters, and I would keep up with crafting, then I would be able to spend all my time taking care of her."

Ana faced them and showed an expression of how serious she was about this decision.

"Wh-why not just have Anabelle along while we do everything but dungeons...? It should be easy enough to take care of her outside of such hectic and dangerous situations, so those times you could hang back like usual, and we'll get prepared with building a raid party. With a raid party, we could be ready for anything."

Kirito was nervous, with every word. Anabelle was the one to respond to those words.

"If you take me along, I could learn too! Come on Mama! We don't need to pull everyone apart just because I'm here!"

Ana's air of seriousness only seemed to intensify.

"Anabelle, this isn't about pulling everyone apart. Already I can't go with the others when a boss would come which would have additional monsters to fight. Because of my health. For my sake and for your sake. For everyone's sake, we have to be more careful. That's why I'm so serious about this. I have no issue with keeping you with me all of the time, but not to somewhere I can't keep my senses on you. I'm terrified of losing you again. For nearly ten years, I couldn't even hear your voice. I only met you a few days ago, after bringing you into the world. I'm not letting you risk your life over this. Your life is more important to me than being with the others all of the time."

Ana cried as she said those words. Anabelle's guilt came, understanding that what she was asking for was wrong. It was immature and it would only put everyone in danger. Anabelle was only a child after all. No matter how good at fighting she might be, everyone would be too concerned about her safety with her around to be able to work as they usually do. Because of that, any kind of accident might happen. With her mother alone, she would be mostly safe, since Ana wouldn't take Anabelle anywhere dangerous.

Anabelle realized there could be many other ways she could help. She followed her mother's mood, and cried as well, hugging Ana's leg. Ana pat her head and tipped Anabelle's vision to look up, and she let go, realizing what her mother wanted to do. Ana bent down, and picked Anabelle up in her arms, cradling Anabelle with her left arm. Anabelle hugged as much as she could grab hold of her mother, and she breathed a happy, relieved sigh.

Asuna and Kirito also sighed in relief. Ana had handled the situation so far as perfectly as they could imagine. With how happy Anabelle had become in the end of the argument, they felt warm and they couldn't imagine going back to sleep. Not with how exciting the morning had been.

"How long has it been since you last slept, Anabelle?"

Asuna and Kirito had caught up to them, and Asuna decided to get the question out of the way since it was possible that she would need to sleep soon. She was a child, so she would need her sleep more than the rest. She wasn't so young she needed to be reminded of that however.

"I slept tonight plenty with Mama, onee-chan and Kirito-chan."

Anabelle using Japanese to respond to Asuna was like a lethal dose of sugar to Asuna. Anabelle was so sweet! But...she'd slept with them when they didn't know? Asuna almost completely negated that thought with how happy she was to hear Anabelle call her onee-chan.

"You should have woke us up sooner then, Anabelle-chan!"

Asuna was thrilled to be able to talk as she was with Anabelle. Anabelle showed how tired she really was while she was carried by Ana. Anabelle was even weaker than Asuna and Kirito to the comforting feeling of snuggling with Ana. When she steadily fell to sleep, Ana shifted her cradling so that she wouldn't jostle Anabelle awake.

"It's a little early, but let's make breakfast. After that, as a guild, we'll all talk about this."

Ana had switched back to using the text windows to talk to Kirito and Asuna. As far as people she would likely be interacting with outside of the game after her experience in Aincrad, they were all around her at the moment. She wanted to use her whispering around such people. For the sake of being able to normally communicate outside. At least with Anabelle and Asuna, it was nearly a complete guarantee that she would have them at home with her the entire time they wouldn't be in school. When they would graduate, she wouldn't be rushed at all for them to move onto something else, whether it be Asuna going on to further education, moving on with Kirito in their relationship, or whatever might happen. For Anabelle, Ana didn't want to imagine that time yet. She didn't want to imagine it for Asuna either. Ana would be happy if her anxiety and nerves would allow her outside of the game to be able to handle having them with her all of the time. Keep them home and never let them go.

When they returned to the inn, they went to the bedroom and Ana set Anabelle down on the bed, to let her get proper sleep since she was still young to be getting a smaller amount of sleep. She needed to sleep a proper, full night, and she hadn't before if she had fallen asleep after them and woke up before them, which was definitely the case.

After setting Anabelle on the bed, Ana locked the room from the outside so any other than herself, Kirito or Asuna could enter, and it could be opened freely from the other side. After that, her Kirito and Asuna headed down to the kitchen and they took their time, truly enjoyed the process of making lunch first this time, putting the lunches split between them into their inventories. They decided to go over the plan for the day between them while making the food for the day together.

"I think today will be a progression day..."

Ana put those words into the text window to message them, but she retracted them and pushed herself to whisper to them. She really did miss having her voice in real life. She wanted to ask more while she was inside Aincrad, but she couldn't morally put more on Ryra.

"I..."

When Ana whispered the sound, she almost couldn't commit. She pushed herself, and like always, something happened when she pushed herself.

"I want us to push the progression today so that we could monopolize a floor again. So that we can rest assured that Anabelle wouldn't be targeted by the people of Laughing Coffin. At least that much... I'd like to think that Laughing Coffin won't be a problem after this, but there's no telling how much tenacity those kind of people will have, if we consider some antagonists in history and stories. After this though, I would like to spend my time just being Anabelle's mother. For her, coming in here was her way of being with me. A way to help the people who had adopted her when I was too young to raise her as her mother. She's been practising archery, but I can't imagine she would have practised archery for what we do in here. For her, it was likely a hobby to fill up her time, like I did with it."

Kirito interrupted Ana from continuing.

"I think...that Anabelle-chan really likes archery. The way she smiled when she landed the critical hit on the troll, that was how I imagine I must look when I score my critical hits with my archery. Between myself and Sinon, we were good, but that's with a regular target in a training range. Hitting a moving, terrifying monster in here and getting the result of it no longer being a threat, that's such a satisfying feeling. I could agree with the idea that Anabelle-chan is still too young to be feeling accomplishment from something so violent, that she should live out being young. The thing is, she's in here too. You're her mother, and I understand how much you want to protect her. It's the same way I feel about protecting Sinon and Leafa. Because to me, they're like younger sisters I've been protecting for so long already. I even feel that way about Asuna at times. The urge to clear through the game for them on my own so that they don't need to risk their lives. I imagine...that must be how you feel, Ana. The thing is, taking everything into consideration, we could form a good and balanced team with Anabelle-chan. She's stuck in here too now that she made her choice to be here, so...what I said before. We let her come along, to help fight her way out of here too. We can develop a good team, maybe the four of us together, and make ourselves ready for covering wherever Anabelle-chan needs to improve. Over time this can be even better."

Asuna was nervous, hearing Kirito as she suggested such a thing. She made plenty of sense, but the fact was, Anabelle was only nine years into life. With Kirito and Asuna, they were already fourteen and fifteen years in. It was five and six years difference between their ages. Anabelle was clearly a child, and no matter how capable and wonderful Anabelle was, it was a huge difference between asking a teenager and a child to fight for their life. Someone Anabelle's age should rely on their elders to help them through something as difficult, frightening and life threatening as the challenges within Sword Art Online. There was even a daycare put together in the Town of Beginnings she'd heard of for people of Anabelle's age who had logged in on day one. Those children were more an example of how she would have expected Anabelle to be like. Instead, Anabelle turned out to be just as outgoing and heroic as her mother. Without intention.

"She can learn. She can grow. Anabelle can have the opportunities to do more and more here as we go on, but I intend her to do it within a controlled, safe environment. I can only guarantee my mind and emotions being at ease by ensuring her safety and growth myself. That way, I could also help her keep up with her lessons. There will be no floor boss monsters for her regardless, but so long as I feel that I can keep her safe, it's fine. She's my daughter, and nobody like myself could sit and wait in the daycare in the Town of Beginnings. Anabelle would be likely to escape the daycare often if we asked her to stay there, probably do a lot of reckless things if we don't keep her close and keep our attention on her. When I mentioned before in heading up to the next floor, this was exactly why. Imagine, some person from Laughing Coffin I hadn't sent to prison, or someone from Laughing Coffin getting out of the prison finding her and attacking her because she is who she is, my daughter. Besides, I'm not sure her taste in designing, but she could really help me with my crafting, and it could help her learn plenty at the same time depending on how I introduce the crafting to her. Really, it's fine. I'm just a very concerned mother, and...really, I wish that she had chosen to stay at Ryra's and my apartment instead of logging in here, for her safety. No mother wants their children in danger. I feel more assured with everyone in our guild, Beta, because you're proving yourselves everyday. Aside Agil, you all feel like daughters to me on some level. I feel even better about everything when he's around and he's another rational minded adult here. Eventually, I might even feel fine leaving him to looking after her when we have our own guild building, where he could look after her and tend to a guild store. For the time being though, she's my total responsibility."

Asuna and Kirito smiled. Ana was the person that influenced their lives the most.

"Don't forget, you have her onee-chan here to help you take care of her, Mom. It's not only your responsibility to take care of her. Older siblings always have a responsibility to protecting their younger siblings."

Ana was warmed with how much Asuna was committing to the role she had decided to follow through with. It turned into a feel good moment, but it was a very good feel good moment. The day would go smoothly, they couldn't help but feel after their conversation.


	25. Chapter 25

~Seventh Floor~

While Ana had finished her breakfast and waited for the others of the guild to eat their breakfast, she went up to the bedroom and woke Anabelle from her nap. At the current point, she'd definitely had enough sleep. Plus, Anabelle needed to be there to explain the situation to everyone.

"Mmm?"

Anabelle protested getting out of bed, which was something Ana recognized right away when she thought of how she normally was outside of the game when she would wake up. She wanted to extend her time relaxing in the soft embrace of bed. However, Anabelle still didn't even wear her proper pyjamas when she fell asleep. She obviously wouldn't be comfortable in the base armour set she was wearing.

"Wakey wakey, Anabelle. We have a busy day today."

Ana's whispers were enough to get Anabelle out of her post-sleep laziness.

"Mama!"

As soon as she saw her mother, Anabelle reached up and did her best to reach her arms around her. Anabelle was always ready to snuggle with her mother. It was just how their bodies fit together, the feeling of her protective mother with her caring feeling about her...everything was so soothing to Anabelle, and she didn't want to waste any opportunity to feel it.

"Good morning, sleepy head. There's some more food for you since you ate not long ago. How do you feel about..."

Ana pressed the table option for the bed and the table set up on the side for once, adjusting to how they were positioned on the bed. Ana placed down a small plate, with a rice souffle omelet and some berries for a side. Anabelle looked at the small plate of food with interest and she even said she couldn't possibly eat it.

"Eat your food. You want to grow up tall like me, maybe bigger, then you need to eat your food. Not that it really applies while we're stuck in here, but you still need to eat. There's the hunger bar right? Well, if that goes too low, then you'll start losing your hit points. We still feel hunger and consequences of not fulfilling our hunger in here, so you need to eat your food. Besides, remember your porridge before? I can make all of this food super easy. I'll teach you how to make it too."

Ana was changing her tone of how she talked with Anabelle, and it was surprising how much she liked the more relaxed and happy tone she was able to express so freely with Anabelle.

Anabelle nodded her head and dug in with the provided spoon, scooping a mouthful of the rice omelet first. She squirmed and sighed in happiness at the taste of the food.

"Mama's food is the best~!"

Ana beamed happily to hear and feel how happy Anabelle was from eating the food. Learning how to cook was mostly for this kind of experience for her. To hear and feel the satisfaction of the people she prepared the food for. The happiness when they truly enjoyed something she made.

After a few minutes, Anabelle finished eating her true breakfast for the day, and she mumbled a little.

"I won't get too big from eating so much of Mama's food, will I?"

Ana laughed and hugged Anabelle tight.

"Not in here you won't! You can have all you like! As long as you're careful and don't eat too much beyond the capacity of your hunger at the top. Anyway, now it's time for you to meet everyone else in the guild I've been leading. We want to try and get up to the next floor of this place today, so there are things I want to go over today."

Anabelle broke free of the hug a little and smiled.

"Right!"

After having it decided, Ana picked Anabelle up and walked them downstairs to the restaurant, and when she walked to the far end where she could safely be in their presence, Ana sat down and perched Anabelle sitting on her lap.

"Uh...how far along was your pregnancy, Ana-san?"

Yuuki asking that question was the point where everyone sighed and looked at the floor in their embarrassment of her.

"This is my daughter, Anabelle. She logged into the game after the launch of the game, so that she could relieve some of the issues that are happening outside of the game around her. I'd like everyone to welcome her kindly."

Ana's text box was partially a warning to them to mind their manners with Anabelle.

Leafa, Sinon and Sachi were excited to meet Anabelle properly, so they stood up and looked at Ana for permission to approach closer. After a nod, Ana sighed and they approached. The first to ask Anabelle a question was Leafa.

"How old are you, Anabelle-chan?"

Anabelle smiled and answered in Japanese. As far as Anabelle was considering the people around her, everyone but her mother was to be talked to with Japanese. It was surprising how much Anabelle knew of Japanese already.

"I'm nine and a half...well, I'll be ten in five months!"

Leafa smiled and nodded her head. She was about to ask another question but Sinon interrupted her.

"I'm Sinon, and the blond haired girl is Leafa. The girl in black at the back is Kirito, and she's my childhood friend, and Leafa's older sister and cousin."

Sinon was testing the water a little on how much Anabelle knew Japanese to be able to understand and answer Sinon. Little did she know, Anabelle was prepared for something like that with a witty remark.

"Kiritonee-chan already has sisters? So then you're also nee-chans!"

Sinon and Leafa were flustered by Anabelle's response. Sachi asked her question before Sinon and Leafa could argue over the relationship topic.

"How long have you been learning Japanese? You're so fluent and clear. Your voice is really pretty too, Anabelle-chan."

Anabelle smiled and responded to Sachi right away.

"I've known how to speak Japanese for two years. Ever since I learned Mama lived in Japan, I started learning, and I have a speaking partner who stopped teaching me four years ago. I also know how to write Japanese too, so I can send those message boxes like Mama sent before too."

Everyone was shocked to hear how impressive Anabelle was. It wasn't just Ana they were putting on a pedestal, because Anabelle was just as impressive.

"Uuu...she could probably teach me in school..."

That comment from Lisbeth broke the surprise everyone had that Anabelle was so fluent in Japanese for a reason. The silence and Lisbeth's comment were followed with laughter.

Kirito and Asuna walked to the front and urged Sinon Leafa and Sachi back to their seats, before continuing the talk.

"We met Anabelle-chan this morning, and since Ana has decided on us monopolizing a floor for Anabelle's safety, Asuna and I have thought of a little change in organization. Since our best bet in clearing any floor is Ana, Asuna and I will stay back and take care of Anabelle while everyone else defeats the floor boss. Since Anabelle is in the guild already, that means she can also be teleported after we defeat the floor boss, which makes it easy for us three to follow to the next floor."

Ana heaved a sigh of relief on hearing that kind of idea having come from Kirito and Asuna. They must have discussed it while Ana woke Anabelle and had breakfast. She was impressed how much they were thinking ahead.

"Is that really okay?"

Ana nodded her head, and sent out another text window to the rest of the guild.

"This idea can definitely work. As long as we split our division of the active force for this floor boss to having Leafa and Sinon supporting my main tanking as usual, Sachi and Agil supporting Yuuki in off-tanking, and Lisbeth pushing out debilitation with her magic hammer from the side, we should be perfectly fine. At least, so long as we don't have floor one's situation again. If we do have floor one's situation, we'll take the chance and bring Moonlight Black Cats and Fuurinkazan in for a full raid so that they could hold off the other monsters. The best case situation, we don't need them to come along."

With Ana's words in the text window, everyone felt reassured. They were surprised Ana would even consider inviting the other guilds along for the run, but when they took another look at Anabelle on her lap, they knew there was a very strong case and reason for Ana's words.

Asuna chimed in after everyone seemed ready.

"Well now, since we don't even know where the dungeon is, I suppose this would be the mark to tell you all it's time to head off. It's time for this elder sister to have some bonding time with her little sister."

Leafa and Sinon realized with those words why Anabelle called them elder sisters as well. Apparently she knew about Asuna and Kirito. They had even less reason to interfere with the relationship between them in the end, with their conscience for Anabelle's sake.

A brief full introduction between everyone and Anabelle so that she knew what everyone's name was, a bit of how they joined the guild and how they were doing with the other people of the guild. Overall, Anabelle was happy. Everyone was kind and they were...well, they were all keeping in mind that Ana and Asuna were right there and it would be highly unwise to test their patience.

When Ana and the others left the inn, Anabelle left behind with Asuna and Kirito, Anabelle felt bored right away. She looked at the new people in her family and she wondered what more they would let her learn about them. If they would show her around outside of the inn a little. She thought of something that could be fun, since she recalled her mother mentioning they liked cooking.

"Can you teach me some cooking stuff?"

Asuna was thrilled at the topic which was brought up. Kirito was also happy, but she was a little awkward with Anabelle, since Ana was no longer present to keep Anabelle's actions within full control. Kirito still didn't know Anabelle much, and she was more used to taking care of Leafa and Sinon. They were easy since she had grown up with them. Despite that, she would try her best to warm up to Anabelle while she had a chance to.

When the three of them entered the kitchen, Asuna began removing a series of items from her inventory, which like Ana had taught to her, she taught to Anabelle what they were equivalent to, and how to mix them to become something else closer to real life. Useful things for cooking and other situations. Fruits and some vegetables were essentially the exact same as real life, just at lower qualities at their lower floors within Aincrad. After mixing a few things and showing Anabelle a few tricks, Asuna decided to show her how to make ice cream within the game. It least for the time being, it would be a decent idea for keeping their energy up a little in the morning.

Anabelle was happy spending time with Asuna. She really for some reason didn't feel totally comfortable with Kirito. Like she didn't know something about her that she should.

"Kiritonee-chan, why does your name sound like a boy name?"

Blunt and straight to the point. Kirito thought for a moment if Anabelle was really Ana's child. The blunt manner of speaking was just like Ana though. Ana just didn't need to ask the question to know the answer. Was such a topic fine to talk to Anabelle about? Kirito took a breath and thought about it, realizing how little different it would be from telling her about being in a relationship with Asuna. With a little calm and confidence in herself to answer the question, Kirito answered.

"I used to be a boy."

That didn't seem to surprise Anabelle in the slightest, she only seemed more confused.

"Then...why do you still go by a boy name if you're a girl now? Kirito sounds so strange when seeing you. You look more like a...Kirizu. Like my speaking partner for learning Japanese. Her name was Zuzu Kiriya. Or...I guess Kiriya Zuzu going by proper order of naming."

Kirito was surprised to hear that name from Anabelle. One of her classmates from school was doing online courses, but she hadn't heard what kind of online classes. If it were linguistics and she were talking with people like Anabelle, then that would somehow make sense. She was so good at speaking English after all...

"I like that name too!"

Asuna gave her opinion of the different name for Kirito within Aincrad. She leaned in close and whispered at hopefully a low enough volume to Kirito further opinion.

"Maybe Kazuto is also a little too boyish as well. Kazu is a very nice name if we consider keeping the name you received from your parents as well. Maybe consider it and talk to Ryra-sensei about it."

Asuna's suggestion had also been heard by Anabelle. She like her mother had very good perception of sound...

"Kazu is a pretty name too! It also means wind, which is just like you since you're so fast, onee-chan."

The support from Anabelle on the topic of a name change was somehow very soothing for Kirito. She thought on it, and sent out a guild message to check the opinions of the others on changing her in game name to the one Anabelle suggested first. For outside of the game, her decision on changing her name to just being Kazu was something she would take her time to decide. Probably make up her mind when she finally had the courage and the time with the floors to go through with having the surgery done on her. She would drag that out for a while yet...but she didn't want to wait until she was out of the game to experience the surgery otherwise.

With a lot of agreement on Kirizu suiting her more, she changed it over. At that moment, Kirito became Kirizu, and the rest of the guild arrived at the boss room door. As far as handling the dungeon, after finding it, Ana used her calculating to find the fastest path to the boss room door, and they easily ran through all of the monsters along the way with ease. The balance of the party just worked that well.

After Ana did a check on everyone's equipment, items and the readiness of everyone with their strengths, she pushed the door open to check the other side. It was still morning, another hour before lunch time. The other side of the door showed a lone boss monster which by Ana's guess would be even easier to handle than the previous floor boss the guild had defeated. Which was good since there were less of the guild present, but it was also not such a big difference with the quality of the equipment being all caught up in comparison who how well equipped they were for the last battle.

The monster they faced when they walked to the other side of the door, was a giant enraged snow troll. Trolls were one of the faster monster types, and like trolls from many games, they were especially weak to fire, and had the ability to self regenerate their health if they aren't afflicted with debilitation or burned. Ana started the battle by leaping in with her only skill use of the battle, a sonic leap with the enchantment of flame on her weapon. With the flaming sonic leap burning the snow troll floor boss, she set to immediately creating opportunity for the rest of the guild to move to their positions, stunning the monster continuously and cutting through the weak points to stack up bleeding effects from the flurry of strikes. As fast as the troll was at moving about and attacking, it was also a very simple pattern of movements it had and developed the more it fought.

At the half way mark for the hit points, the troll changed almost completely to a different monster that hadn't shown up in Aincrad yet. Sagely troll, was a variation on the troll where it goes from enraged to calm, and it uses highly calculated movements to return the opposition of its opponents on them, but it could only attack physically. Thankfully, Ana knew how to keep the focus of the troll on her, and the others could freely continue to lay damage on it. She had some difficulty working past the countering type of nature of the sagely troll. She tried method after method of breaking through, and eventually she found a pattern of the troll which suited very well for breaking through its countering and defences which wouldn't put her in the danger of being countered. She would lure out a counter with a skill, then unleash bursts of normal attacks which were far more controlled from her so that she could unleash as much damage on it as possible. At the enrage point of the battle, the boss didn't change at all. No new mechanic or pattern of attacks occurred, and the battle progressed smoothly to the point of the monster shattering from the hit points reaching zero. Everyone was completely fine...aside their hunger. They had worked up their appetites from not having even a snack before heading in for the fight. Regardless, as the victory music began to play, Ana sent the teleport link to Anabelle, Kirizu and Asuna. When they appeared from accepting the teleport request, those who hadn't been present for the actual changing of Kirizu's name nodded their heads in their support of her name change. Seeing that name above her head suited her far more than the masculine Kirito.

After a brief relaxation between everyone, hugs shared between those who were in the mood for them, everyone headed up to the new floor. Floor seven still had somewhat of a snow and winter theme. The light snowfall with the kind of atmosphere of spring, the snow melting on the ground around them, showing through the ground and roads underneath was something that was interesting to those who weren't used to having so much snow piled up. Of course, it also meant that it was foreign to them to experience the previous two floors with all of the snow on the ground and treading through the somewhat deep substance which could impede their travels through the floor.

Ana in a part of her wanted to enable her virtual vision to appreciate the sight of it, recalling how beautiful her home town could be when she didn't consider some of the people in that home town. It was an older town in her country, one which was built for the support of the construction of the railroad. That town still to the day had a mostly European style to it, and at times, renovation moved in that direction more and more. Construction would fix the roads of the downtown area from the easily shaped asphalt and pavement into the shaped and sturdy cobblestone which were smoothed out for the more modern feel when vehicles would pass over, but to the feet, the slight feel to the uneven shape of the stones underfoot were something she could really appreciate. It made it easier to know where she was when she was growing up, not as used to using her perception to get around. The sounds of the town were never pleasant, but at least always loud enough during the day to appreciate the ability it lent to her in providing the echolocation she needed to know where everything was around her. At night, the place had felt similar to how the seventh floor of Aincrad's town felt. Mystical, like she had been plopped into a story in a deserted, beautiful location. The feeling of the slow falling snow, the sensation of the warm snow melting against the skin. The weight of the snow as it stuck to the clothing which wasn't quite warm enough to melt the snow.

Everyone enjoyed the atmosphere of the town much more than they thought they might. For Ana, she was right back home at the most comfortable time of day she had ever experienced. It was so relaxing, she almost wanted to walk over to a snow bank and drop into it, let it lull her to sleep with the silence of the snow fall.

Ana actually needed some noise to generate her perception of the area, so she started forward again, the clacking of her boots echoing off the surroundings telling her where she was, and the relativity of where other things were. It was so easy for the sound to get lost with all the muffling effects from the snow. She would have only expected that in real life to be accurate, sounds being muffled by snow. But it was working so well, she truly felt she had been dropped back into the real world and amazingly had everyone from the guild with her to experience it.

She continued forward, and everyone found an inn near the teleport plaza where they could sit down. This time, when they ventured to the new floor, they had been fully prepared for such a thing as the last tragedy to occur, and left their messaging open for others to tell them about how the situation was on lower floors. Nothing that needed to be address was happening below, so when everyone sat down in the new inn to eat lunch, there was a calm atmosphere. Ana was reminded how nice it could be at times with her family when they weren't arguing or making other noise. The sound of everyone eating and enjoying their food was something which again, brought her back home. Anabelle sitting on her lap while they ate lunch together was something else which she couldn't get over. She loved every moment of being close with the people who had become the family around her. Plenty of people from all kinds of situations, could be brought together easily by any one goal they might share. Any one commonality no matter how small. Everyone there, was together for the most part, for the sake of working their way out of the game, and continue their lives outside, with a better view on it than they'd had before entering the game.

Ana and Anabelle leaned back after finishing their lunch and sighed. They were just so happy, that they could let go of their concerns.

For everyone else, the thought came to mind that they hadn't paid attention to the event rankings and leader board. Kirizu piped up and mentioned that if anyone wanted to continue working on the gathering of presents for the event, then they should start forming teams on whoever they wanted to work together with. Ana and Anabelle didn't take part, because Ana had already decided that she was going to slowly and steadily introduce the entirety of the game in ways she could teach it well and it would stick with her.

Kirizu and Asuna left with Sinon and Leafa following behind them. Everyone else grouped up without much of a word to each other, and headed out. When it was just Ana and Anabelle left, Ana stood up and lifted Anabelle up, turning her around to face her and set her down gently on her feet.

"How do you feel about some learning?"

When Anabelle gave a nod with an excited sound to a hum of her voice, Ana smiled. The day would be very full of Anabelle learning, and they would even add some event present collecting to their lessons. Anabelle truly did learn fast. Ana could only be proud of her daughter. Ana had been thinking in the beginning when she heard Anabelle, that she would feel guilty if Anabelle was born with some of the issues that Ana faced. The lack of vision. The anxiety. Other issues came to mind, but thankfully, ever so thankfully, Anabelle was perfectly healthy and happy. Ana couldn't be happier. As a mother, she was only more and more proud that Anabelle was able to make such a choice as she did. She could be selfish. She could be confident. Proud. She could do things that made Ana envious, but all the more proud that since she couldn't, her daughter could. Ana only hoped that any other children she would bring into the world would be just as healthy and happy as Anabelle.

The seventh floor was like home, and having Anabelle with her in such a place, Ana could only swell with the happiness that she felt.


	26. Chapter 26

~Sub-Event~

On the seventh floor, a sub event of the Christmas event had spawned. Search for and hunt down a unique boss monster in a forest on the floor. The quest reward was, if defeated by an individual, add a thousand presents to their count. If defeated by a group, split fifteen hundred presents between all members of the group. Because of this, most of Beta gathered together and searched the floor relentlessly for the monster. After all, it was a time limited quest.

They almost forgot to even eat their lunch on their second day on the seventh floor, because of their relentless search for the event boss monster. They could always think that there might be more, and there might even have already been some of those on the previous floors involved in the event, there could even be more chances on higher floors, but they were determined. The competitive sides of most of the group shone.

As far as Ana and Anabelle, they had some interest in fighting it, but the competitive spirit was lost on them. For Ana, her lack of competitive spirit was an accumulation of many competitive events ending in sour moods because she had participated. Because she either won to the point that the other competitors couldn't stand a chance, or she lost so blatantly that others wanted a rematch with her true potential. Humans were so competitive in nature, that she had arrived at a point long ago that no matter how much she didn't care about winning or losing something like a competitive game, other people would be upset for any number of excuses and she just wouldn't feel the sense of having accomplished anything. Even with archery, she didn't compete. She only participated in the club and used it as a hobby. Otherwise, Ana had been happy enough being secluded from other people and their nonsense drama. Honestly, she didn't like people for the most part. She had been lucky and found good people inside of Aincrad, and she was able to form a like-minded group. She couldn't sway them of course from their competitive nature, so they were out enjoying their hunt of the giant mutant thief.

For Anabelle, Ana had discovered that she had plenty the same experience competing with others, and it wasn't any fun thinking about how other people would be upset with her whether she won or lost. Either way, she still wasn't ready for fighting something like that. While Ana and Anabelle hung back around the town of the seventh floor, they picked off enemies with their bows, gathering some presents here and there. Confirming Anabelle's ability with the bow, and just spending some quality bonding time together. Anabelle would receive praise for impressive shots, and she would be impressed by how consistent her blind mother was in hitting the weak points of the monsters.

On the seventh floor, came a new monster type. Human monsters. They were basically just any random monster from other game perspectives, just giving them a kind of role which the players could control. However, seeing these monsters for the first time from the perspective of the others in the guild, it was difficult looking at them and attacking them. Even if they saw the blatant monster tags over their heads, even if they looked more monster than human, it was difficult for them to fight a human shaped monster. It only proved that they were good people, and completely unlike those who were true monsters in real life. Those relentless murderers of Laughing Coffin.

Still no news had come up from below, no word on Laughing Coffin having emerged from the under dungeon. Many names from those who had been sent to the prison had been crossed off on the name mural in the Town of Beginnings, the normal entrance to the under dungeon. PoH was still on the list. Some other notable names were still on the list. Those people, Ana assumed were smart enough to hold back and try to regain their full control of their bodies after the limbs had been replaced by the system. Those people, were the ones to worry about. People who would definitely do their best to return from the under dungeon and create heaps of messes for the people who put them into the prison.

The thing about the prison and the criminals, those who have a permanent orange marker from killing or assisting in killing another person within the game, those people would still be easily sent back to the prison if someone with a prison transport crystal like Ana had activated the use and sent them back. It would be a nightmare for those who weren't committed to a life of crime.

The prison did serve free bread to the prisoners so that they could suffer off of the stale horrible taste. It kept them alive, at least. They could stay there indefinitely until the game were cleared, so there was no issue in leaving the prisoners where they were. Letting them escape and cause trouble again was definitely not something that could be allowed.

Anabelle and Ana had no issue firing their arrows at the human type monsters. For them, thankfully Anabelle had inherited Ana's capacity for being able to feel the energy of something around her, and she had been building on it from the moment she entered the game. It was a surprise how long she had been in the game. Surprisingly, she had been in Sword Art Online from the day of the visit before. It had already been days, and Anabelle had the chance to build at least on her senses, and most with fighting some of the lesser monsters on earlier floors. Pairing Ana and Anabelle with their relying on their advanced senses over just their eyes, no matter how human a monster might look, even Anabelle's perfect vision was relentless on something that would attack her.

Ripping through the enemies around the town was easy, simple, and it was actually something which gave them plenty to talk about. Ana learned plenty about her daughter, and Anabelle learned a lot about how her mother lived her life. Anabelle had her opinions and she thought that even though her mother was doing what she loved in writing and programming on the off circumstances, she should have gone into the medical field with Ryra. Anabelle kept it to herself though, realizing how difficult it was to touch on the subject. After all, there were reasons Ana couldn't be a doctor. Whether it be her medical history, or anything regarding her past, even with her capacity for knowledge, most places in the world wouldn't put their trust in a doctor with high functioning social anxiety, being blind, not having a voice, among many other things. Even if some of those things might have been able to be dealt with if Ana had the ability to figure out how to solve some of her issues. She might have been able to cure her anxiety if she had invested her post high school education on learning the medical field. She might have been able to cure her vision. She wouldn't have needed to lose her voice. With such possibilities, of course Anabelle could figure out that her mother would have considered it. The problem was, a medical school wouldn't have taken on a student like her, no matter the case. Because she was just another disabled dependant.

Ana was depressed, letting Anabelle understand such heavy and terrible parts of her past. However, it was bringing them together. Anabelle could appreciate her mother more for the hardships she had overcome to be at the point she was at. Regardless of her medical conditions, so long as she wasn't faced with a situation which would trigger her anxiety, she could operate just fine. She could handle living just as much, if not, possibly better than other people.

Ana was only happy that Anabelle hadn't suffered the kind of past she had. That was all she could hope for, for any of her children. Mending the wounds of Asuna's past with her original family was something she would steadily over time work on, and some parts of that could be handled by her relationship with Kirizu.

Anabelle was more distressed to hear about what caused her mother to be blind. What caused her anxiety to become so bad. Those were very dark times in Ana's past. Anabelle didn't need to know. Not at her age, not ever. Her determination to know and to try and do something about it was what caused her to regret prying so far into her mother's life. Ana had a mostly happy life outside of the game. She had a very happy life inside of the game with her mother and the other wonderful people in the guild around them. That her mother didn't have that kind of happiness for so long...it was depressing. So Anabelle loosed arrows and distracted herself with killing the monsters around the town with her mother instead of focusing on the dark past her mother had experienced.

For Ana, her mind couldn't so easily be distracted, no matter how much she hated being a pessimist. Her mind floated around the memories of her dark past.

When Ana had been only five years of age, her first day at the school which was a year later than some children, and a year early for some others, she had been picked out. She had been a boy at that time, wearing formal boy's clothing which didn't suit her a bit. Her parents had picked them out and they had been decided that it was cute on her. Other kids didn't see it the same way as her parents had. She knew all along about her mindset being more that of a girl than a boy. She enjoyed being called cute. She enjoyed learning from her mother many things, and she had inherited much from her as far as personality and anxiety. Thankfully the anxiety hadn't continued to Anabelle. When she went to school for the first time, she had been excited to make some friends with other girls since the girls who grew up in the same neighbourhood were more masculine and uninterested in the feminine things that she had been.

As far as Ana's interests when she was young, she wanted to be in dance. Choir or other vocal practice. She wanted to do figure skating instead of hockey. She hated regular sports more than anything. Especially baseball since she had received one of her more memorable concussions from a bully who played it with her team back then. She in general disliked all physical contact sports, be it soccer, baseball, football, basketball, volleyball. She just disliked the violent and competitive games. However, because she wanted to be in some kind of extra curricular activity, her father pushed for her to do baseball since it was surprisingly one of the less expensive sports, and something he had more interest in supporting her in over soccer, hockey or other sports. He hadn't been much a sports person either, unless he was playing them.

Ana's first day of school, the event back then which lost her her vision, was at first a realization that the other girls her age she was at her school with, were spoiled brats and they were hanging onto the whole stupid germs thing back at the time. Kids were like that. Cruel in their innocence. That led to Ana taking a seat on a swing, where some older kids of the school, six years older than her to be more precise, had made their hangout. Those older kids didn't even give Ana a chance to move, shoving her off of the swing. She landed face first in the sand of the large sandbox where most of the children were before the first bell signalling classes rang. Those older kids, thinking it was funny to shove her around and shove her into the sand, getting her formal boy clothes messed up and vent whatever negative feelings they had on her, led to one of those older boys taking it too far. He had turned her over and punched her multiple times, and as a teacher had finally been informed of the bullies' actions, he grabbed both his hands full of dirt and rubbed them directly into her eye sockets. Some of the sand was never fully removed, and eventually her body dissolved it, but not before some sand had grazed and damaged the nerves connecting her eyes to her brain. That was the cause of her loss in vision. Such a thing, vision loss from nerve damage was something that still couldn't be cured medically. Not by neurosurgery, not by electromagnetic technology. There was nothing, no surgery, no cure.

Because of her experiences with other people in school, between her being blind, and having been made terrified of boys because of how consistently only they bullied, and bullied her prominently, she developed anxiety talking to anyone. A large contributing factor was the lack of her female classmates or other females in general, how anyone reacted to her. Because she had adapted quickly enough to act as if her vision were still fine. Eventually, she had to be moved schools because of the rough relations with other people. The same kind of environment continued until high school, where for the two years prior, she had begged and pleaded with her family and medical overseers to let her be a girl. In high school, with her new name, new appearance, and new constitution of herself, her anxiety slightly shifted into a better position. She was able to communicate with some other people. Some people were thrilled about someone so impressive and eye catching as her. She had never thought to cover her eyes, even though she knew they looked as blind as they were. Because of her being blind, she had a lot of attention. Especially with her capabilities of acting as if completely normal and completely capable of seeing.

In high school, she had taken up her hobby for archery. There, she had denied the option to be part of the main archery team, and people were only more convinced that she had been lying and she wore some kind of disfiguring contact lenses to make her seem blind, because of her ability with archery. She didn't aim to be the best in the school, but she had earned that place either way. Because of her advanced perception. Because of her perception, sometimes it worked even better than most people operated with their vision intact.

The bullying had picked up again in high school after she had joined the archery club. During that time, one person had been kind to her. Another person who had been bullied. They had become very close, and eventually it arrived at the point that they were in a relationship. It was Ana's first. However...the relationship didn't last long. The night that created Anabelle's opportunity to start growing in her, he had shown his true self. Many scars on her body were from bullying, but the most were from him. The most in number, and the most hideous in figure. Her other scars had been rather tame in comparison.

After that, everyone at school had become distant. Between her having become pregnant, and the other parent of Anabelle growing in her being locked up in juvenile prison, everybody decided to stay away from her. Well, all except for Ryra. Ryra hadn't really been present much in Ana's life until after the tragedy with the person who gave her Anabelle. Ryra had been a huge support through Ana's pregnancy, and had even been there for her when Anabelle was born. Ryra had kept Ana sane, in a sense. By giving her a strong anchor to hold her from drifting away into her depression from everything in her life piling up.

Her mother had always been as supportive as she could be, but her father had been a traditional type in regard to the area, and he hadn't been supportive of her becoming a girl. He reinforced his view on that when Ana had returned home pregnant after a test with a doctor. She had tried hiding it from her family, but she needed support if she were going to give birth to her baby. In the end, Anabelle was born, and because of all of the reasons which had piled up, Anabelle was put up for adoption. Everything led to her now being inside of Sword Art Online with her, nine years and seven months after she had lost her daughter.

Anabelle did her best to distract herself from the sadness she felt, hearing about her mother's horrible past. She tried her best to think about how happy she was that she didn't end up with her grandparents if her grandfather had been so denying of her mother. She hoped to be strong enough to tell him how terrible and wrong he had been some day in the future, but she also hoped that she could just live a good and happy life with her mother. The latter option was much better. Less negativity would always be better, and confronting her grandfather over something which was so far in the past was only negative.

As she thought about things to distract her, she could hear footsteps crunching through the snow. Heavy footsteps far larger and heavier than the other monsters in the area. Those footsteps signalled Ana even before Anabelle. When Ana was able to tell that it wasn't an average roaming area boss of the floor or the area's boss around the town, she was able to figure out rather easily that it was the event monster which the rest of the party had been searching for. Ana hadn't wanted to bring Anabelle into any monster fight or include her in such a dangerous battle as an event boss, but she realized it was likely a good chance to pick up her mood after bringing it down in letting her know about her past.

Because of this, Ana sent a request to tie her and Anabelle's party with the rest of the guild, and she messaged the others that she was going to kill it, and they were only added to the party for the present distribution. Before Ana started the attack on the monster, she checked how the leader boards were and how Beta was doing. Surprisingly, Ana was at the top of the individual boards again. Anabelle was catching up, though hadn't reached the top twenty at the point. Meanwhile, everyone else in Beta were a fair chunk behind Ana's collection. Ana sighed and closed the ranking, taking a step forward and nodding to Anabelle.

"We're going to fight it?!"

Anabelle was beyond excited to see her mother prepare for fighting the monster. She would get to see how strong her mother really was, and she was practically bouncing on the spot when Ana smiled in return to the question. That smile turned from happy, to confident as she turned back toward the monster. At that moment, Anabelle saw it, the evidence of her mother's strength after all she had went through in her past. Every reason to be proud of her mother. Anabelle readied her bow, and Ana readied her sword, dashing forward without the use of sonic leap.

Through the calm falling snow and the light snow banks, Ana sprinted, and after Anabelle fired an attention drawing arrow to the monster, it rushed toward Ana's charge. Before Ana entered range to start picking up the attention of other nearby monsters, she met with the giant Christmas thief and she slammed the face of her sword against Anabelle's arrow which hadn't faded after being shot. The damage and effect of the kind of attacks paired together created a prolonged stun on the monster. The stun gave Ana plenty of opportunity to let loose her dancing that she never had a lesson for. Following to the beat of songs she used to sing alone. Anabelle would contribute from her safe distance, finding good opportunities to add an arrow into the damage the monster took, and in what felt no time at all, the giant fell. Anabelle was beyond excited and she was near ready to run up to her mother before she noticed that there was possibility of crossing into other monster aggro range. The two of them killed off enemies blocking the way between them, and joined up after the battle was over, and Ana pet Anabelle's head proudly.

"You had a lot of really good shots there. I'm so proud of you!"

"Mama's fighting is amazing!"

The two laughed softly, and surprisingly delayed, the event notification verbally sounded through the floor, saying that the Christmas thief had been killed. The other group were disappointed they hadn't found and killed it themselves, but in the end, everyone in the guild received the benefits. Anabelle had also shot up in ranking from the even distribution of the presents. From around the mid twenty and thirty ranks, up to rank fourteen. The places between fourteen and the places in the top ten that the rest of Beta held, were the greyed out names of people from Laughing Coffin who were trapped in the prisons. So essentially, Beta held all the top ranks.

Floods of messages hit the members of Beta, asking how their numbers shot up so much so quickly. Apparently the people of Fuurinkazan and the Midnight Black Cats were the competitive types who were trying to compete. There were others sending them questions about it, but the most recognized were people from those groups. With the notice that there had been an event monster with the bonus on the floor, people were upset. Of course they would be. With that kind of advantage, nobody else would have a chance of obtaining anything other than the follow ups in the guild rewards of the event.

Because there was a lot of distaste for Beta being so far in the lead with the present collection, they opened the gate to the seventh floor, but only at the end of the day, after they found the dungeon on the seventh floor. The next day, they would advance again to the eighth floor if they again didn't have additional monsters in the way.

The news of sub events appearing with such bonuses made a lot of people migrate up to the seventh floor. For those who weren't prepared for the jump in strength of the enemies, it only made them more depressed that they couldn't compete. For those who could, they were disappointed that there was still no way to catch up to Beta if they only continued to monopolize the next floor after clearing through.

Because of the balance of how the people were reacting to the balance within the event, this dragged on until only a few days before Christmas, where Beta had reached floor ten, and had to let others follow them up to the tenth floor, because they had finally again reached a boss with additional monsters, and a raid party would need to be formed again. Other sub events had happened along the way, and Beta only stayed further and further in the lead.

The tenth floor...after it had been reached, there were many reasons to slow down.


	27. Chapter 27

~Christmas~

"Why the hell are all the good groups not making any more progress?! It's been a week since a floor has been cleared after Beta crushed through floor after floor, yet nobody is even trying the floor boss here! We all know you've found it by now!"

A very angry and surprisingly free from prison Kibaou complained about the lack of progression. The guild tag of The Army beside his name and the new absence after the required time passed of the orange marker had returned to green. He wasn't currently a criminal, but he was essentially no better than one in most people's eyes. That The Army would accept someone like him, was disappointing for anyone who had developed in the time since Beta unlocked floor ten. The Army was already bad enough, but taking in a prior criminal player? Even worse, promoting him to one of the commanding positions?

There were many reasons, again, which prevented the continuation of progress through Aincrad. The first and most notable, being that the boss battle of floor ten, known among those better prepared guilds, was the first boss since floor one with additional monsters. Beta needed to wait considerably for others to catch up in their progress. Beta had been overpowered up until floor ten, but floor ten revealed to be the limit of being overpowered.

Another reason for the lack of progress, was that those who were training and were more capable, were taking a break because of the time of year. One arrogant group had charged into the dungeon after barely being able to handle the base monsters of the floor, and barely survived the dungeon monsters, let alone reaching the boss door like the calm and rational minds of Beta and other groups who were listening to Beta.

Many reasons for anything could be found, and there were always going to be some people in life who only continued to arrogantly spew out that the reasons were only excuses.

The truth was, a lot of people were happy for the pause. Floor ten was a warm, celebratory floor which was fully decorated in Christmas decorations, and was full of the spirit of the season. There was constant snow, but it was equivalent to sugar flakes which still melted when warm enough. The aftereffect didn't leave the sticky feeling of sugar though. The town was designed like a large European village, the buildings instead of being the typical castle age buildings made of stone and heavily fortified, comfortable and small, and made of wood.

Some smaller guilds were excited over the discovery that some of the buildings on the floor were finally on sale. That guild buildings could be purchased. Some guilds did purchase their guild buildings, while others were simply happy of the news and decided to wait out until later floors for settling on their guild home. Beta was of course holding off from setting up their guild home.

Lisbeth was upset to hear Kibaou's words against the top guilds, and she had only been passing through the town back to her stall for selling excess weapons she had crafted while training up to catch up to Ana's level in crafting. Still, she was lagging behind. She just felt she was lacking an important something to reach Ana's level of crafting. Still, Beta was entirely decorated by Ana's crafting. The equipment was completely the same design of what Ana had created on floor six, but in the best materials the tenth floor had to offer.

"Oh? Someone from The Army pestering the stronger guilds again? Do you need a reminder nailed to your forehead for you to understand there are reasons to not move forward? Do you need a reminder that people have already died for recklessly charging into the dungeon, let alone trying to fight the boss monster? Go hurry off back to your try hard guild. Or we'll black list you from ever buying from our guilds."

The other guild representatives, who were just gathering and enjoying the festive atmosphere looked to Lisbeth with thanks.

On the tenth floor, Lisbeth had a slight image change with something else which had arrived on the floor. Barber shops. At a barber shop, even Ana could learn to use her alchemy benefits and help change a person's appearance, but Lisbeth had settled with a colour change alone from the barber shop. Anything from changing a hair style to something impossible for the person in real life, to any hair colour, to making the avatar's hair extremely long or cutting it to a shiny bald were possible. Lisbeth was happy to have the suggestion from Kirizu and Asuna of having her hair colour changed pink and have her join the other mismatched hairstyles of the guild. Then again, blond on Leafa and blue on Sinon had grown to match them. Sinon, however much she had grown used to it, changed her hairstyle back, and had the barber match her hair length to how long it currently was.

Everyone had their hair length extended to their current natural length when they discovered the option was there. Well, aside Lisbeth and Leafa. Leafa was happy with the accessory and the blond hair colour matching with her fairy-like theme to her appearance. Lisbeth was happy with her original shorter hair length and the pink colour which matched her armour. The pink really brought out her freckles as well. The discovery of the barber shop also made Ana and Anabelle excited of course. It only made them more excited to spend time with each other, and Kirizu and Asuna caught on. Playing with and styling each others' hair. It was something that they could do and relax before going to bed.

After Lisbeth made her comment to Kibaou, she had turned and began to walk away, back to the stall. Her and Agil were currently working together, so she could take breaks, and he could take breaks running the temporary guild store. Her return to the stall was slowed down by an unexpected punch to the back of her neck. Lisbeth stumbled forward and fell to her knees. She rubbed at her neck and groaned before standing up. She turned and saw Kibaou's orange marker had returned.

"That seems about normal on someone like you. Oh wait...now that I remember, Ana's not the only one who has one of those prison crystals anymore. We all have them. Ready to go back?"

Lisbeth pulled her crystal for the prison from her inventory and waved it in front of him a little. If he so much as touched it, he would be sent back. He glared and growled at her like some rabid animal. She didn't aggravate him further, turning back around and walking off back to the stall. Everyone had a clear understanding and judgement at this point for any who had an orange marker. Because of this, Kiabou would have to suffer with it over his head for another month just because of his temper and attacking Lisbeth.

Everyone in Beta had been gifted a prison crystal upon reaching floor ten, but it was more a delayed reaction to the mass clearing of orange players from Beta's actions, even if mostly from Ana. Because of that, should any encounters with orange marker people occur, Beta had every reason and opportunity to use them. Or not use them. Some people could be the better judge and send people off to prison in some situations, or give the second chance to those who only made a mistake. A lot of the time, the harassment policy kicked in even though there was no harassing occurring, and a mistaken movement during that time. Because of that, a couple of weeks could pass and those people would no longer be considered criminals. People who were marked orange for either killing or assisting in killing were the only who were stuck in the prisons until they either decided to let the under dungeon kill them, or run for their lives for the exit, hoping they could find it. No news had arrived of movement from the under dungeon. Some people had decided to take a look, but they scurried back out almost immediately after encountering a monster in the under dungeon.

For an offence like Kibaou committed, violent action against another was a month of punishment. Further action than the simple punch Lisbeth had received, though it really did hurt, something like a cut from a sword, would grow more and more as a punishment, the more damage one would inflict upon the victim. For bringing a person to one hit point at the current point in the game, the punishment would be ten years in the prison. For the time being, it still seemed as if it was likely to be finished in less than two years. Possibly less than a year if a raid team was formed under Beta and they could clear a floor every few days. That was everyone's hope at least.

On the way back to the stand after dealing with Kibaou, Lisbeth was surprised to see a hair colour similar to Ana's, except more just a ginger colour instead of having the other gold and brown colours naturally mixed in. That person's hair was short, she wore mostly blue, and she was equipped with daggers. She was...somewhat well equipped if considering her a dungeon explorer for regular treasure drops. It was kind of like seeing Agil's before Beta equipment again. Except, the girl was kind of cute.

The girl walked away with a purpose to her steps, and she seemed to be headed in the direction of the dungeon. Lisbeth chanced a look at the equipment the person had on and her level, and reached out to stop her right away by grabbing her hand lightly enough the harassment policy wouldn't show up.

"Hey, aren't you too low levelled for the dungeon on this floor? Come on, at least let my guild's shop help you out a little."

The name above the person's head, Philia was a name which only reminded Lisbeth more of Ana. Seeing Philia's face was only more of a reminder with her clear blue eyes which were almost the same as Anabelle's.

"No thanks..."

Philia turned to walk away again, and Lisbeth sighed before calling out to her again.

"Seriously, don't go to the dungeon. This is out of consideration of your safety, you know. This dungeon is three times more difficult than the previous dungeons, and the monsters are unavoidable here unlike with the others, no matter how good your sneaking proficiency."

Philia looked at Lisbeth and gave a confused expression. How would a crafter know how a thief class can do in a dungeon? That was the question on her face.

"You seem kind of oblivious to the guild name above my head...look, there's a few strong thief types in my guild, and they need to go together with other strong members of our guild to get anywhere in there. Alone, even our people won't stand a chance. We're all about the same level aside our guild leader, so check my level and check yours. Seriously, I'm only trying to save you from throwing away your life by running into the dungeon too early."

Philia sighed and she looked around a little. Other people who heard Lisbeth talking to her nodded their heads as if Philia were asking them if Lisbeth's words could be trusted.

"Sure...I guess I could check out some things at your store."

Philia was definitely the solo type of person. Treasure hunter. She was fine for the easier dungeons in preparation level, but she was also massively under levelled for the dungeon of the tenth floor. The only treasure hunting she might be able to do on the current floor were the sub dungeons and caves, and those didn't have anything special compared to dungeon drops. Even then, nothing could compare to the crafts from Ana and Lisbeth. Not at the current progress in the floors.

Lisbeth smiled when Philia finally stopped pursuing the idea of the dungeon, but she had also become nervous of showing the shop to Philia. If she were the typical treasure hunter type, then it was possible she might try to steal...but she had a green marker above her head, which meant she hadn't committed any criminal offences such as stealing. She might make an exception with equipment Lisbeth or Ana had made, but otherwise, she seemed completely safe. Just an average solo type of person, enjoying the game as a game instead of worrying about the death game part of the game outside of just keeping herself alive.

When they arrived at the stall Lisbeth and Agil had been running, Ana, Anabelle, Kirizu and Asuna were all gathered there, chatting with Agil and checking on how sales had been so far.

"Ah, we've managed to sell a bunch. Are you serious about keeping all of this superior quality equipment at such a low price though? I mean, consider this kind of quality comparison in other games, and the market price would be-"

He was interrupted by one of Ana's text windows.

"Of course. If we did as with other games, people wouldn't buy it. It's still early in this game, need I remind you. Later, we can be a little heavier with our prices, but if we go higher than we have our prices right now, then people won't be able to afford them. Besides, it's Christmas time. We have to be in more of a giving spirit. It isn't like crafting this equipment is difficult. A higher price can go to people who make those ridiculous requests."

At this point, Agil was looking between the text window and Philia who was standing beside Lisbeth. He gave a questioning look to Lisbeth as if she had finally followed in the footsteps of Ana with Ryra and Kirizu with Asuna. The next pair that most of Beta were expecting out of the people themselves, was Leafa and Sinon. Simply because of the fact that they totally matched the cliche of two people who ignored their feelings even though they knew them and still spent all of their time with the other...but they really weren't romantically interested in each other

Agil's expression was returned with a glare, which faded as soon as the others noticed him looking at Lisbeth and Philia.

"Ah, you brought someone with you. How can we help?"

Kirizu's friendly manner of customer service was something which had been built up. Originally, she was nervous and not very good at doing the customer service kind of talk. Practising with Asuna and Lisbeth was something that helped...well, Kirizu and Lisbeth. Asuna was able to put on the fake customer service air easily because of how much she had to work at putting on airs for her previous family.

Philia sighed and looked at Lisbeth as if there was something she was expecting.

"These are some of the people I was talking about when I was talking to you before. Our guild leader is Ana, the woman with the hood and her matching child. Her child is Anabelle, and they're both amazing. Kirizu, the girl who was being friendly toward you is our main tank when Ana can't be. Asuna is Kirizu's romantic partner. The other person on the other side of the counter is Agil, our main shop attendant for selling our guild's merchandise. A few others are out gathering items for our crafting, but otherwise, we're all the guild called Beta. I was honestly surprised before when you didn't recognize my guild tag..."

Lisbeth was still rather awkward with her customer service talk, especially when she was introducing everyone. Really, it should have been easy enough to just point out the guild tags and the names above their heads and look at the people a little more to understand their relations, but Philia didn't seem to be paying attention to that.

"Ah...oh, right. The leading party who got us up to floor ten. Thank you for your work so far."

Asuna had a suggestion to Philia to make the mood a little nicer instead of being so awkward with everyone waiting for the next comment.

"Hey, how about you join us for our Christmas celebration in two days? It would be nice to have another person along. We'll be celebrating just us in Beta and a few other friends we've made along the way so far. Maybe you might find that the feeling we have in Beta might suit you. See, some of us also are the types who normally play alone, but it's always more fun with others around who are similar in a good way."

Philia seemed a little interested for a minute, but then she sighed and looked toward Anabelle.

"Why is the kid here?"

A text window responded before Anabelle had the chance to get mad at Philia for being rude.

"My daughter wanted to be with me, and she logged in on her own after finding out I was stuck in here. She's perfectly capable and stronger than most other people in Aincrad. She earned her place here."

Philia was surprised to hear such a thing from Ana's message window. She clicked it off with a finger and stared at Ana for a second. She'd heard of the famous blind woman. She hadn't expected that person had been a mother caring for her child while progressing everyone through the game.

"Could I have a duel?"

Anabelle sent out a request before anyone else had a chance to tell Philia no.

"Sure, just remember that Mama warned you I'm strong."

Anabelle and Philia squared off at a section of road which had been designated for small duel events like was about to occur, and people who were walking about with more of a Christmas spirit about them stopped to watch. When the crowd seemed to have stopped growing, Philia accepted the duel request. Anabelle had become fierce, but like her mother, she was also the calculating type, and waited for Philia to show her skill and abilities. Philia had thought to give Anabelle a chance to start the battle, but when she noticed Anabelle was waiting for her, she became a little nervous. She was surprised a child could make her feel so nervous.

Philia ran forward carefully, her dagger drawn, and she used a flash step attack to close the distance to Anabelle. Anabelle drew her dagger and used her own flash step, closing behind Philia and shoving her to the edge of the field. Philia nearly stumbled all of the way out, but when she realized how fast Anabelle had made that move, within the second that Philia's blade would have hit her, Anabelle had disappeared behind her and did something as simple as shoving her. It didn't decrease any hit points at all. Anabelle was still measuring her.

Philia was even more nervous when she realized how serious Anabelle was. How much of a gap in ability there was. Was Anabelle one of the thief types that Lisbeth had been talking about before?

Philia decided to take another safe attack toward Anabelle and she managed to make a few fakes, but in the end, Anabelle saw through those as well. Philia sliced through the virtual air and was shoved again. The people in the crowd were speechless. Of course, many knew about Anabelle being Ana's daughter, but very few had the opportunity to see how skilled she was. That she could so easily avoid Philia's attacks...

Philia decided she wouldn't plan out her attacks anymore, and ran over to Anabelle normally. She attacked normally, didn't use skills, and to her devastation, Anabelle dodged everything perfectly. Philia realized as it went on, that Anabelle had only used the flash step the once. No other skill had been used in the entirety of the fight. Anabelle was just playing with her. Philia couldn't land a strike on Anabelle even when she tried her best. When Anabelle finally attacked back, her blade only barely touched Philia's forehead. The bleeding effect wouldn't even start from the tiny prick that had connected with Philia. If she hadn't stopped moving herself forward to attack Anabelle, she would have instantly lost the duel. Thankfully, even lethal hits in a duel wouldn't kill someone, but a lethal, killing strike would kill a player regardless.

Anabelle cancelled the duel after pulling away from the attack, and she ran up to her mother, grabbing her in a hug. Ana pet her head in a way that seemed to everyone that it was truly a proud way of saying she did good. Philia felt devastated. She dropped to her knees and stared at them. The group she never thought she would encounter because of the difference in professions. Even the child was so incredible...

"Ah, don't think we're all as incredible as Anabelle. Only her and Ana are like that. Seriously, that was great though. You might even be as good as Sinon with the dagger. How would you feel about joining our guild?"

Lisbeth's words struck pain into the crowd who couldn't earn that kind of praise and offer no matter how much they tried. The other people belonging to Beta were just as inviting.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Really though, with skill like that how are we not already past this floor?"

Everyone from Beta shook their heads. Not to the denial of being invited to the guild, but denying answer that question. Of course Philia seemed too much the solo gaming type to so easily join the guild.

"If you want to know the answer to that, nearly everyone on this floor will know the reason we aren't progressing. We may be powerful, but we're only one guild, and only have so many people. We're enjoying the season together and waiting for other people in other guilds to get ready for the floor boss since we're going to need a full raid this time. At least consider the offer to join us for our Christmas celebration if you're determined to continue as you have been."

Ana sent that message to Philia along with a friend request from all the members of the guild. Philia sighed and pressed the accept button. She wouldn't be able to avoid them after making as much of a fuss over her encounter with them. She could be a little festive over the Christmas spirit, but she wasn't so sure about how seriously she should take Beta. Were they really so worthy of their fame? Philia had been trying to avoid getting involved in any of the news, but she couldn't avoid the annoying Army stirring up trouble, or Laughing Coffin's presence when they were more present.

Philia had to admit that she also knew about the liberation that Ana had made on Aincrad with her clean up of Laughing Coffin in a single night. That night, over fifty people were sent to the prisons, and over the next few weeks, many of those people died trying to get out through the under dungeon. That kind of achievement, only the most hermit of solo players would be able to avoid hearing that kind of news. Of course Philia knew about Beta, but she didn't ever bother look above a person. What was more important to her, was if they had a face she could trust. For her, nearly every person from Beta in front of her had such faces. She could trust those people. She wasn't ready to give up her usual way of handling things though. Maybe at some point she would consider it more later, but she was determined to be her own person until such a point would come that she couldn't support herself within the game, where she would need the backing of other people she could trust like Beta. It also wasn't any small invitation she had shot down. Because she felt that she might want to take the offer some other time, she sent a message to Ana.

"Let's get along. Eventually I'll probably decide to accept your invitation to your guild. For now...I'm not worthy, and I'm just not ready to be that kind of person. I hope you understand. I look forward to getting to know you through the celebration you have invited me to."

Philia was very polite. She didn't know how polite she should be. When Ana simply smiled back and her simple reply came, she felt she had overdone being polite with her.

"I look forward to learning more about you."

With that, the days went by like a blur. Everyone who was taking in the season instead of letting the stress of the game get to them were enjoying the time so much, they nearly passed the time by entirely. Philia hadn't been one of those people who spent her time away, but she had been someone who was able to spent her time doing something she enjoyed, finding treasure chests that she hadn't yet opened. She didn't have to go into the far too dangerous dungeon to be able to find many treasures on the tenth floor. She returned to her meet with the people of the Christmas celebration with some new and recoloured armour. She had a new, somewhat more stylish cape over her shoulders with slightly better stats than the previous one, and a couple of other pieces had been replaced.

When she arrived, she felt very out of place with everyone from Beta, and the other few guests who were joining in the celebration from either solo playing or being part of a couple of other guilds. All of them wore formal, party looking attire. Nothing hinting at all to them being inside of a sword fighting video game with many other fantastic things abound. Just a beautiful formal event.

It wasn't ten seconds Philia had been stunned by the sight of how out of place she felt, that she felt someone grab her hand and drag her to the side of the plaza where they had set up their Christmas celebration. The person who dragged her off was Ana. As soon as she realized who it was who led her away, a series of items were dumped into her inventory. A couple of moments after the formal attire prepared for her for the celebration were dumped into her inventory, a text window showed up.

"So that you won't feel too out of place. I'm happy you could make it."

Philia was more surprised that Ana could pick her out so easily despite being blind than having formal attire which was blatantly labelled created by Ana. Of course she knew Ana was the best known crafter in the game. Who else would be so confident in pushing any kind of wearable item on another person? Philia was near at a loss for words when she examined every item she had been given, every article of clothing. From the slight raised heels which matched her boots in a sparkling slightly darker blue than she normally wore, to the long matching sleeveless dress, the draping sleeves for her forearms and the ribbon to accent her hair and a slightly transparent shawl for over her shoulders, everything was beyond belief. When she started instinctively putting the clothes on through the status screen, she felt lighter and lighter, and eventually when she was fully changed to her formal outfit, she looked down on herself, and felt herself completely liberated from the suffocating feeling the treasure items she found gave her.

"How are the measurements?"

Ana was curious about that?! Philia was starting to wonder just what kind of person Ana really was. How could a blind person design such a perfect outfit for her?!

"It's amazing..."

Those were the only words that Philia could force out of her mouth. She shook her head and sighed in the satisfaction of how well the clothing fit. If only all her clothes in the game felt so good.

Ana smiled wide, almost like she was hiding something from her. As they were done with getting Philia changed and suited more to the feel of the celebration they were having in a secluded plaza on the tenth floor, Ana led her back out, and the others there for the event all clapped when they saw Philia in her new outfit.

"Wow! Another-!"

That loud and raspy voice of Klein was interrupted with a doughnut being shoved into his mouth. Everyone there aside Philia knew he was going to say as he saw when he first arrived. He fit well in his formal attire, but the clothing couldn't hide the pervert. Even the other guild mates from Fuurinkazan had learned to not let him go overboard any more. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been invited to the event at all.

There were two guilds aside Beta present in the gathering. At most, the other guilds only had five other people. Beta nearly made up the entire number of both other guilds combined, so it wasn't a huge event at all. Counting Philia, there were only a total of three no guild guests.

Somehow, Philia felt that she had stepped out of the game with how comfortable she felt in the kind of atmosphere she was in. Kind people, friends having fun together, celebrating with the air of Christmas around them. Philia even began to feel she missed being home. If only so she could wish her parents a Merry Christmas. She had her own apartment for her time in high school, so she was living on her own, and she was most likely discovered and saved by a friend when she didn't show up to school for a few days.

Philia had so many thoughts swarm her mind as she saw the heart warming scene around her. How much she missed the friends...more accurately just her classmates, and her family. It hit her hard. She couldn't consider herself close to anyone. Not even her family, ever since she went to school. One voice sounded so familiar to her...she followed the source of the happy voice, and she was surprised it was coming from Anabelle. She hadn't been able to see much of her before with the hood up over her head, but with so much more of her visible, Philia recognized her immediately. She hadn't recognized her voice before...had Anabelle recognized her voice?

Anabelle received a text window and she turned her head to where Philia was and the spark of familiarity could be seen in her eyes. Anabelle ran over and grabbed her in a hug. Ana didn't react surprised at all from it. Which meant she must have known...

"Philia is Zuzu, right?! I'm so glad to see you even here!"

Philia was shocked. Her young linguistics partner was truly Anabelle? Philia looked to Ana and Ana simply smiled back. Eventually, a message window answered Philia.

"Thank you for teaching my daughter Japanese. You did a very good job in teaching her. I hope her helping you with English went well."

The message was in English, and Philia smiled when Ana had taken the familiarity that far. Not very many people were that open with her.

"Thank you. Both of you. I can't believe how happy I feel just...being here. The one person I could confidently call a friend is even here. I didn't think I'd get to see you again after our lessons ended, Anabelle-chan."

Philia responded in English, and the three together drew a lot of attention. She couldn't believe that fierce fighter with the dagger the other day had been her best friend. She was so happy, her smile became painful. Tears swam at the surface of her eyes. It truly felt like a real night outside of the game.

When Anabelle finally let go of Philia, she reached and grabbed Philia's usual dagger hand, putting something in it.

"Mama said I should give it to you. Thank you for coming tonight. I really hope you eventually join our guild."

The sapphire teardrop pendant was gorgeous...Philia was in tears just seeing how clear and beautiful it was. She couldn't imagine anything of such quality ever being in one of those treasure chests she'd been hunting. She crouched down and pulled Anabelle into another hug.

"Thank you."

She could barely breathe the words out. She was so emotionally struck at the gift she had received from Anabelle.

"Ah! I guess that would be your Christmas present from me, so Merry Christmas! Thank you for being such a good teacher, Zuzu."

Anabelle couldn't help herself, and referred to Philia again by her real name. Philia did her best to hide her discomfort of how she was being referred.

"Well, sit down wherever you like, and have some dinner. After dinner, I'll pass out presents to everyone."

Philia sighed and fastened the necklace around her neck and she played with the sapphire teardrop with her fingers while Anabelle pulled her along to a table with Kirizu, Asuna, Leafa and Sinon. The other people were all people Philia barely knew, but when she had seen Anabelle acting so close with them and so animated before she noticed Philia, she had the feeling that those people were also important to Anabelle.

"Ah! I'm so happy you could make it!"

Asuna's introduction when she noticed Philia sit down between her and Anabelle was very warm and kind. Philia was stunned by how different she looked in formal attire. Asuna was gorgeous...

"Anabelle and Ana were hiding something from us, so I guess you're a friend of Anabelle-chan?"

Kirizu's question was returned with a warm smile from Philia. Her eyes drifted and she couldn't help but notice how beautiful Kirizu was as well. Were all the people of Beta beautiful women?

"It's nice to meet you, Philia. I'm Leafa, Kirizu's younger cousin."

Philia...was distracted during Leafa's introduction. It was quite obvious where her gaze was drawn to. She wanted to make a comment asking if Leafa's back hurt.

"I'm Kirizu's childhood friend...kind of a sister I guess. My name is Sinon. It's nice to meet you as well."

Philia was surprised how strong Sinon's eyes were. Even in such a relaxed and celebratory atmosphere, Sinon managed to have the vigilant look in her eyes. Ready for anything to happen.

A message window appeared in front of everyone after the introductions.

"Thank you all for coming here to celebrate Christmas together. In just a moment, Asuna, Kirizu and I will be distributing everyone their dinner. Take your time, enjoy the food, and please enjoy the company of the others who have gathered here today. Also, please be sure to keep my anxiety space in mind so we don't have to cancel the rest. Before we pack up for tonight, I will be passing around a present to everyone. Thank you."

As soon as the messages had been sent out, Asuna and Kirizu stood up from their seats, and met up with Ana in the middle of the plaza they occupied. The light snow fall with the night lighting was gorgeous. Everyone could truly appreciate such a wonderful atmosphere.

After a minute, all of the meals had been passed around, and thankfully everyone waited until all of the food was distributed and the three distributors had sat down. The formal words for thanking for the food passed around between everyone, and everyone started eating all at the same time. Philia had heard about how delicious Ana's food tasted...but she had been surviving off of bread. She wasn't ready for the rush to her taste sensation. As soon as the cranberries touched her tongue as the first thing, she felt as if she might never taste anything so good again. She savoured every bit of it until the cranberry dissolved in her mouth. She continued, bite after bite savouring how delicious every bite of the food was. From the cranberries, to the slices of what must be the game's equivalent of turkey meat, the stuffing, steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy...everything was beyond delicious. Philia let the tears fall with how happy she was to taste real food after more than a month without. The others around the table only smiled to see how happy Philia was with the food. All those who prepared the food sat at the table after all. Ana, Kirizu, Asuna and Anabelle had all chipped in to making the Christmas feast.

When Philia eventually finished, everyone else having finished their food around the same time, she wished she had savoured it more. Stashed some of it in her inventory so she could taste some again another time. She wasn't the only person with that sentiment. People from Fuurinkazan, Midnight Black Cats and the other two people without a guild were all dissatisfied they let the food all be enjoyed at once. They just couldn't help themselves...

The meals finished, Ana stood up again, and made her way back to the centre of the plaza. From there, she made one final full event announcement, and began sending each gift to each person who had been invited. Everyone opened their presents right away, as they had been wrapped up and prepared completely as a craft from Ana. Every individual present suited their receiver to a point that everyone was in tears from how happy they were receiving their presents. If someone saw it from outside of their experience, they might think of how sappy and unrealistic the people were, because they were in a game. However, people needed that kind of peace, happiness and celebration in their lives from time to time. Those who received gifts from Ana within Beta, received personalized accessories and special items which were perfect for each person. For the others outside of Beta, everyone, even Philia, received a full set of floor ten maximum level gear, designed and tailored to the tastes of the person, as well as a trinket of their own which suited them completely. Just how much did Ana know about all of these people to make them cry tears of happiness to receive their gifts?

Philia sighed heavily after pulling together a big breath to calm herself from her tears. She looked to Anabelle and smiled again, more tears starting their journey down her face because of the flood of happiness she was caught in.

"Merry Christmas, everyone."


	28. Chapter 28

~Delay~

Philia wanted to clear up her situation with Anabelle, not having the courage to tell her true name with everyone else at the celebration the night before. Philia still kept herself without a guild, but in spirit, Beta had already taken her in.

Philia couldn't keep the guilt down about being dishonest with Anabelle when she hadn't used her actual name in being in contact for their linguistics lessons. She simply used her email ID which she had created for anonymous talking, having a decent fake name to use. Something believable. Possibly a name used by another person, but it didn't matter since she wasn't taking someone else' information to do her communication.

Philia had called Anabelle out to meet up and walk around the town together, feel at ease and just hang out. Just enjoy the day together as friends. Philia had always wanted to do something like that with a friend. She felt awkward about it since there was an age difference between them, but when Anabelle responded that her mother would come along as well, Philia felt both nervous and happy. She wanted to properly thank Ana for the Christmas gift of her new equipment, and she was also happy that Ana would break the tension there might be if it was only Philia and Anabelle. Nervous, because she wondered how Ana would react to the reveal that Philia hadn't used her real name when talking with Anabelle before for their lessons.

It was about three minutes until their designated meeting time, but Philia had skipped breakfast, disgusted at the idea of eating the regular bread after tasting the piece of heaven she had consumed the night before. As if they had the same kind of reasoning, Ana and Anabelle rounded the corner into sight from the location of their inn and headed straight for Philia. Of course, Philia was proudly wearing her present from Ana, the new combat clothing. There had been another set of comfort clothing, something meant for lounging in at home from the look of it, but Philia couldn't imagine just wearing that anywhere within the game...

"Good morning!"

The greeting from Anabelle was like a douse of water to the face, waking Philia up from her thoughts. Ana sent a message box as well.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well?"

Philia's morning discomfort betrayed the words she wanted to say, and Ana sighed before sending another message to her.

"You should really take better care of your health. Sleep at an inn, even at the same inn we use. I'm sure you could find a good use for your comfort wear I gifted you yesterday. How does your new combat equipment fit by the way?"

Philia had a feeling she would always face an all knowing inquisitor whenever she would face Ana. How did she know how to understand such fine details of a person from a small amount of conversation?

"Right...thank you for your concern, and thank you so much for the new equipment. It's so comfortable, I almost feel like it's cosplay and we're out of the game..."

Philia lost her confidence to reveal her main reason for calling Anabelle out.

"Are you okay Philia? Have you had anything for breakfast?"

Anabelle's innocent curiosity and worry for Philia in her strange state alerted Ana something else that she noticed.

"You really should be careful of your hunger. Here, I always have a few extra meal items in my inventory and plenty of snacks."

Ana passed Philia a large smoothie cup and stepped back beside Anabelle, taking her outstretched hand. Philia stared at the contents of the simple smoothy in her hands, and she felt the same sensation she did when looking at the food the night before after eating a bite. That she needed to savour every bit of it.

"Thank you again..."

Philia sipped a little of the smoothie and the sweet, yet slightly tangy, smooth taste of the rich fruity tastes entering her mouth made her stagger from her happiness to taste it. She wanted to cry, but she held it back, and fell in line walking with Ana and Anabelle when they began walking.

"So, was there anything you had in mind today, Philia?"

Anabelle was being as polite as possible. There was always the temptation to speak in accordance with her age, but Anabelle did have the vocabulary of most adults. Philia was nervous, but it was the best time, between sips of the smoothy, to tell the truth about her name.

"You know...how sometimes people use a fake name when communicating with other people? I'm sorry, but my real name isn't actually Philia or Zuzu Kiriya. I'm sorry..."

Anabelle and Ana walked ahead of Philia and faced her directly after Philia had stopped in telling her apology of not using her real name.

"It's okay. I'm sorry you feel bad because of this. Maybe I should have used an alias as well. I always had the feeling that you didn't look like a Zuzu, but you're definitely still cute."

Anabelle, the child calling Philia, the teenager cute nearly made Philia laugh. She took a deep breath and smiled, readying herself to introduce herself to Anabelle and Ana properly.

"To make up for lying to you about my name before...my name is Kotone Takemiya. I hope you truly forgive me for my lies about my name..."

The two in front of her laughed softly and smiled wide in response to Philia's true introduction.

"It's a good thing I put up a private conversation barrier for us so your personal information wasn't heard by others nearby. It's nice to meet you properly, Kotone-chan. I'll be sure to continue using Philia to refer you in the future of our time together in Aincrad."

The whispered English from Ana was like bells to Philia's ears. Even if she was reduced to whispers for her voice, just that much was still beautiful to the ears. She smiled and took another sip of the smoothie she had been given for her breakfast.

"Does...does joining the guild guarantee a delicious breakfast like this everyday...?"

Ana had dropped the privacy screen, and she nodded her head in response to Philia's question. Philia was certain right then she was ready to give up her solo playing pride through Aincrad to have a real meal everyday.

"We eat three proper meals every day, and sleep properly every night. I'm honestly surprised many if any people could have survived off of that horrid bread the NPCs sell. You should especially be getting proper sleep every night. At least most nights. Because you have to consider how you would feel most ready in real life to tackle your day."

Philia was surprised her mouth wasn't watering from the sound of being able to eat proper, delicious three meals a day if she joined Beta. She couldn't believe with how alive she felt how empty she had felt within the game after being trapped inside. Not empty enough to throw her life away. Empty enough however that she had no real goal with her time inside of the game. She didn't have any desire to get out of the game. She didn't have any goals in growing stronger. She would simply do her normal solo act and eventually get out whether on her own or from other people pushing their way out of the game. One invitation and meeting Anabelle and the people around her within the game though...that gave her meaning in her life again.

"I can't believe I was stupid enough before to turn down the invitation so quickly. Can I please, please, please join?!"

Philia was really cute when she showed how determined she was to get into the guild. The guild invite came from Ana with a tagged message."

"Now, will you continue with dagger alone for your weapon, or will you try sword or bow, which seem they would suit you better? Whichever you choose to handle most, I will teach you."

Philia looked down to the replica Ana made which was at least a solid hundred times better than the dagger she had before, just imitating the shape of the sword breaking dagger she had before. She didn't like seeing that jagged lethal sight hanging at her waist. She thought about the sword or bow options that Ana mentioned, and pressed the accept button on the invite to Beta.

"I'd like...to learn how to use the sword and the bow. Would that be alright?"

The grin which filled Ana's expression made Philia worried.

"Mama is very strict with her teaching. You'll never forget though!"

Philia only grew more worried to hear how enthusiastic Anabelle was toward her mother's teaching. Had she gone through it? How was it so strict? Was it rough?

The message window from Ana confirmed that it was okay for Philia to learn sword and bow. However, Philia didn't feel reassured even the slightest bit. Just what kind of training was she going to have with Ana steering her?

Philia couldn't help but feel happy being with Ana and Anabelle though. Her best friend and her best friend's mother. Both of them were so strong and she felt even more like she was back outside. There was one thing many people might still be scrambling for, but Philia gave up on it on day one. The Christmas event. The event would continue to the end of the day. The top spots all belonged to Beta regardless. Top guild in present collection? Beta of course. Top individuals? Well, Asuna had taken the number one position, but otherwise, the rest of Beta were right behind her filling the top positions individually. Beta never even had to try. Just follow along with Ana's leading. Now Philia was going to be part of that group.

"Don't worry about how strict the lessons are. If you don't have anything for today's plans completely decided, would you like to get some training done for those? Ah, but I'd have to take you down to the second floor and get some of your skill trees unlocked."

The message window from Ana was a little surprising. Philia didn't really have the day planned out. Just like she normally did on a day off outside from school or her other lessons, she would have just walked around and did whatever with Anabelle and Ana through the day since they accepted going with her. Just relax. However, having the offer to start on training and get the necessary skills trees unlocked? What skill trees? She could understand the bow, but wasn't the one handed sword enough?

"I assume that you would like something a little more suited to yourself than just using a simple one handed sword, sabre, rapier, or scimitar for a type of sword you would wield. There's also the tachi style weapon, which can be one or two handed, based off of katana and kendo, and magic swords, which have the chance to grant the ability to heal like Asuna and Sachi have with their weapons, or temporarily enchant the weapon for doing a certain element of damage, or even throw the element with a non-connecting slash to do ranged damage that way. For the bow, there's a few different skill trees. The primary one is the shooting skill tree, while the other skill tree our guild's bow users all have is the hunting skill tree, while the third, sniper, is held only by Sinon."

Philia was eager to find out what Ana meant by all of that. There were that many kind of skill trees? Philia had gotten used to daggers, but just about anything could have been fine. Daggers just seemed more right when sticking to the treasure hunter kind of style she usually preferred in her gaming. A magic sword though? That seemed even more like a treasure hunter weapon. And there were a lot of stories of treasure hunters who suited to the hunter type with a bow as a piece of their equipment they always had with them.

"Sure! I'm eager to learn, and it'll be fun to do something a little more than just whatever we find on this floor."

Ana and Anabelle laughed a little at the mention that it truly was Philia's idea to just wander around and do whatever they came across. Good thing Ana came along, Philia thought. Otherwise, it was likely she'd still be hungry. Which reminded her of the smoothy she still hadn't finished drinking. She tipped the glass of delicious berry flavoured smoothy back and gulped the rest of it down, putting the glass into her inventory when she finished instead of wasting it. It was a very nice glass.

The three of them walked to the teleport plaza together, and in minutes after being on the second floor, Philia found herself in a small clearing in the forest she had mostly ignored on the second floor, where there was a simple little shrine. The unending quest marker showed up, telling her to offer something. Suddenly, a magic sword and a bow showed up in her inventory and a message appeared in front of her from Ana.

"Offer the magic sword and bow on the altar. One at a time though, unless you want to try unlocking something especially unbalanced for Aincrad like a crossbow sword. I tried it a few times but it only left them there until I took one away, so it's likely to be a waste of time."

Philia nodded her head, and as if trying to do something that hadn't been done, she placed both the magic sword and bow on the altar at the same time. A few seconds passed after she placed them there, and she decided she would just follow Ana's words, but as she reached to pick the bow on top off so the sword would be offered, both disappeared from the altar of the shrine and a notification window told her she had unlocked different abilities. Magic swords were unlocked, enchanted attacking was unlocked as a sub ability for all weapon types. Shooting was unlocked. Hunting was unlocked. Sniping was unlocked. Crossbows were unlocked. Combined weapons were unlocked...

"Uhm..."

Philia was nervous to tell Ana and Anabelle what all was unlocked from what happened, but she was also scared that so much was unlocked all at once.

"That's so cool! What did you unlock since they offered at the same time?"

Anabelle was excited to hear, and a message window from Ana agreed in asking what Philia had unlocked.

"Well...enchanted attacking for all weapon types I use was unlocked, magic swords, shooting, hunting, sniping, crossbows, and combined weapons were all unlocked..."

Ana and Anabelle were excited.

"Finally someone can make use of the one I planned to use instead of cycling between my bow and sword!"

The message window from Ana was quickly followed up by an equipment entering Philia's inventory again. A holy, wind and lightning attribute magic sword with a small crossbow mounted to it... Ana had mentioned the possibility, but Philia had thought she was joking about it being possible to even make. But there it sat in her hands after she equipped it from her inventory...

"Try using it!"

Anabelle was eager to see Philia using it. Since she had the other ability added, she could even use fire or freezing attacks with the weapon, whatever she decided to enchant it with. As she thought of using the ability, her stamina bar blinked letting her know she was about to consume some energy from it. She decided to add fire to a bolt and aimed the crossbow toward a stump beside the shrine. After clicking the crossbow trigger, the flaming bolt flashed out like a bullet and pierced the stump with a small explosion and flames coated the surface of the stump. Shortly after the bolt secured there, it disappeared like arrows normally did. The flames lasted a few seconds longer since the stump wasn't a valid target, an immortal object, as the system notification showed in purple like the error grids in red which showed up when Kayaba Akihiko made his appearance for those events.

"It worked perfectly...!"

Anabelle was thrilled after seeing the result of the weapon working. Her and Ana both wore happy expressions. Philia was stunned that it actually worked. The weapon was a simple one handed sword, with a small crossbow mounted to it. The crossbow was a mechanical wonder, folding into the handle or securing to the guard depending on the intended use of the weapon. The entirety of the weapon was...incredible. As Ana had mentioned about it before, it was something overpowered. Something that didn't really belong in the game. As far as the gimmick about the game from the beginning, Sword Art Online was a game designed with the fantasy setting, but more relied on the player's skill in using melee weapons to fight their way through the game, but the game also included the unlimited crafting, and had the programming included that allowed magic and ranged skills available. Philia was a little disappointed Sword Art Online could be bypassed as what it was intended to be so easily by one quest location in the game and crafter ingenuity, but she was also excited. With a weapon like the one she held, she would be able to fit in and catch up with the rest of Beta rather easily.

"Now, let's go and start training."

The window with those words from Ana were the next part. Philia would get the chance to catch up to them. By training with them. Or at least being trained by them. She realized how little she had to offer them, and that teaching Anabelle felt like such a small contribution to them compared to what they were giving her.

For Philia, she had her life back. Even outside of the game she hadn't felt she was truly living since before she left her family's home. She felt empty, like there was little point in what she was doing. That her days were empty, and she was just going to end up doing whatever life guided into, whether she would enjoy it or not. The little enjoyment she'd had was in her time with Anabelle in linguistics. She didn't really enjoy linguistics much, but talking with Anabelle was what she enjoyed. She wondered what kind of future she might be able to enjoy from going off of what she realized she enjoyed. Would Ana and Anabelle help her with realizing what kind of future she wanted?

Philia was led out of the forest, and back to the town. Of course training on the second floor would be pointless currently, so Philia wondered where they would take her. When they arrived on the tenth floor, her first idea was that they would test her ability against the floor monsters and back her up if she needed it, which she knew she would because of the level disparity. But then...they led her to the dungeon. Ana started a proper party between the three of them and led them forward, sending a message to Philia to do whatever she thought would best help when they would encounter enemies. Seconds after that window was finished being read, Ana had dashed in and started controlling a group of monsters within the dungeon. They were all powerful and fast, but she still danced around between their attacks like a magical fluid moving around to the control of a master magician. She carved away at the skeletal humanoid monsters.

Philia couldn't find even a single opening worth risking to use her new crossbow, so she would have to get in there and try to help put out damage with the magic sword. She had to be careful so she wouldn't hit Ana...but she realized Anabelle beside her was loosing arrow after arrow into the heads of the monsters in the crowd. The arrows from Anabelle did a fair chunk of damage, but the health of the monsters was draining like they were on a steady damage over time instead of being whittled down quickly by Ana's relentless slashes with her sword.

Realizing she had to do something, Philia decided to charge forward, and just do her best to support Ana's attacking without getting in the way, hitting her by mistake or pulling the aggro from any of the monsters. She realized as soon as she started unleashing attack after attack on the enemies that Ana was making it easy for her to do her part, just hacking away at the nearest enemy with the holy element charged to her blade. Sending one enemy at a time within Philia's range and letting her focus each one down.

"You're quite messy. We'll have to get you trained on proper technique and motions with that kind of sword before we go further with this. Not bad on how you handled this though."

Philia received the message window at the same time as the last monster fell to the holy element of her sword and a notification that she had levelled up...twice during the entirety of the first battle in the dungeon. She was low levelled, and she knew it. She would have the opportunity to level up a lot during her training, she realized. Only one pull of five monsters at the beginning of the tenth floor dungeon had managed to level her up twice though...that was crazy. She was nowhere near Ana's level though. She checked the levels beside each party member's name in her peripheral vision, and sighed. There was a whole twenty levels between her and Anabelle alone, and another eight between Anabelle and Ana, with Ana in the lead.

Ana led them out of the dungeon and took them back to the city, to a training ground where there was a duelling section. There, Ana challenged Philia to a duel after dissolving the party.

"Be careful, Philia! This is what I meant by Mama's training being impossible to forget!"

Philia looked from Anabelle with her warning to Ana, and the serious expression on Ana's face put a heavy sense of dread in Philia. Just what kind of disaster was about to occur?

Philia learned. A lot. Ana was fierce in her teaching. The way she moved with the same magic sword alone was mind numbing. It was all Philia could do to try and dodge or block any of Ana's flurry of attacks. After three minutes of that, Ana stopped, and reset the duel so that Philia's hit points would return to full, since she had lost a full third of her hit points from taking a couple of hits, and blocking didn't stop all of the damage.

After the test of being on the receiving end of Ana's flurry, Philia was then required to try and hit Ana just once, and it had to be a full strike. All of this wasn't really helping Philia learn the sword at all. She hoped that Ana would start teaching her how to properly hold the sword and move in numerous ways, but she could only act as naturally as she could when she had to react. She brought up this opinion on how she was being taught before following Ana's test of trying to land a hit on her.

"Shouldn't I be learning how to wield the sword properly instead of this? I know I wasn't good at using the dagger because I was fighting like this, just going off of what felt natural. I know that it's better to learn technique properly..."

Ana shook her head in response, which caught Philia's attention and surprised her.

"I didn't have one day of holding any other than a bow before entering this game. I know it's just myself and Anabelle capable of learning so quickly, but the best way for any person to learn their fighting style, is to first become familiar with the feel of your weapon. You weren't bad with the dagger. You worked with it for a time. However, now you're moving onto a sword. It's a heavier, longer blade which takes more effort to control. You need to get used to how the blade feels, use it in a combat type of situation. React with it, then try and find out what's most comfortable in how you use it to attack your opponent. From there, I could help you fine tune your movements, since everyone has some bad habits they will create. Just continue as you are for the time being and we'll have you ready in no time."

Philia was surprised to read what she read. Ana hadn't held anything other than a bow before being in the game? But...wasn't she blind in real life too and that was why she was blind inside of the game? She thought to not question it before with the beautiful clothes she made everyone, but somehow it was bothering her that Ana had been wielding a bow in real life. Regardless, it was still a huge surprise after seeing how fierce and amazing her handling of the sword was in the dungeon, so Philia was convinced for the time being, that she could let Ana teach her this way. She knew that traditionally, this was far from how people were taught, so she wondered if in emergency situations in the past there had been this sort of training. Realizing there was no point in questioning it all any further, Philia held her sword in a way she aimed it at Ana, and she began taking the sword training lesson seriously. Anabelle watched with interest, and the day wore on. By lunch time, Ana had already started correcting mistakes in her movements. By evening, Philia felt completely comfortable with the sword. The next day, she would train with a long bow and a crossbow.


	29. Chapter 29

~Delay 2~

Yuuki, Leafa and Sinon had decided to practice together for the day after hearing about Philia inviting Anabelle and Ana out to enjoy the day together. Yuuki had been having Leafa teach her kendo whenever the time and mood was right, when they had the time to do so. Yuuki had been growing at a slow pace. She was fast, but she had a lot of mistakes that needed correcting, as Ana had measured of her before. Really, Yuuki was more a tachi type of fighter. She didn't wield her katana properly at all, and it encouraged at some point that Ana replaced her katana with a tachi, which was meant for being wielded with less strength than a katana.

Ana had given Yuuki a lesson before, on the history of the katana, and more accurately about the weapons a samurai had on them. A katana was the primary weapon a samurai had. Katana were difficult to forge in the past, only few master smiths forging them for distinguished families. Otherwise, the lesser swords of tachi were considered a short, unimpressive version of a katana, without a guard. Not short enough to be considered a house knife or a dagger, but not long enough to be considered a katana. Samurai, the people most common to have a katana, many even did not have the chance in the past to wield a katana, used tachi instead, practising in many ways to wield their weapons properly.

In history, samurai often had two tachi with them at all times. The katana was the staple weapon of the samurai, but the tachi were the most common because it was easier to produce them. Two tachi were always on hand, even for those who had katana, so that they would always have another back up weapon. Some samurai trained in the use of dual wielding their tachi either if they didn't have their katana, or if they were unworthy of wielding a katana. Some, were more suited to dual wielding their tachi. The better known samurai who used katana, often only used their tachi in emergency situations, and they only used one. Their off hand designated tachi.

Yuuki thought about it more, and she sighed before making another downward slice. Leafa taught her more the discipline of kendo, the basic movements and the manners of the basic movements, and Yuuki would have to go from there. Learning kendo would only help her when she would return to using a katana, not help her with her use of the tachi.

The katana was a weapon of graceful movements which were meant to be seen. It was a weapon of pride. The tachi, was more like an assassin's weapon. It was used often by ninja, and well known for being the killing weapon of many leaders in the East Asian Wars in the past.

Yuuki had become quite proficient in using the tachi with some instruction from Ana, but she wanted to continue working on her ability with the katana. No matter how much Ana told her that she didn't suit the katana, she wouldn't give up on it.

Yuuki didn't know why she had such a heavy interest in it though. She didn't know why she was so interested in the past. She didn't know why she was so invested into being good with the katana. If it were only for her time within Aincrad, she was already good enough to help the people around her which seemed to be such a great, growing family. She could just settle with how skilled she had become with the tachi and live with it, but she somehow felt soothed while doing the kendo exercises with Leafa.

Sinon had also begun training in kendo again. Sometimes Kirizu could be found practising kendo as well, but to Yuuki, she saw Sinon's training as something to help her gather her thoughts and find some kind of peace. It was kind of like yoga for her. For Kirizu, it seemed her training was levels beyond Leafa and Sinon, but Kirizu was also alone while she did her kendo training. She was definitely using hers for a calming exercise, to try and find her calm like Yuuki often heard Beta talk about. Kirizu's health was steadily getting a little better every day, but she still had a lot of energy and she was pushing her heart a lot in real life regardless. As a person Kirizu had become quite impressive. She cared about everyone in Beta. She treated Agil like a friend, yet like a respected uncle as well. He treated the rest of the girls of Beta as sisters, aside Asuna who she was incredibly close with. Sometimes, Kirizu's kendo practice was also done with Asuna, as she would do traditional rapier practice.

Yuuki was happy to see the family which formed around her. She truly was happy. She was happy to experience such a wonderful, full life with the people around her. Thoughts of outside, and friends, the family she left behind in the other games available with the Medicuboid project...those reminded her that she wasn't completely happy. She didn't want to forget, and yet she was sad to remember.

Yuuki remembered that, she was a critical condition patient, and the Medicuboid project had been being operated from the lead of someone from Ana's previous colleagues in the study of virtual technology. So far, the Medicuboid project led by Mai-san had kept her alive a full year more than her life expectancy. A full year. All she had left were rare visits from other interested doctors and physicians who were interested and trying to understand how to make the device fully restore a patient.

Yuuki had made friends...friends she considered family after she lost connection with most of her family, who were other patients of the Medicuboid project. Friends she could no longer contact. She was sad every time she remembered that they were probably waiting for her and possibly worried for her sake, being trapped in Sword Art Online now. Some of the other patients of the Medicuboid project, they seemed that they might be able to be cured some day in the future, but all the project did for Yuuki, was delay her from dying.

Her past was cruel, full of unfortunate events which were caused by medical mistakes mostly. She had an older sister, and sometimes she looked at Ana, or even Asuna or Kirizu as older siblings with how wonderful they could be. Kirizu would have been the most accurate considering the similarities, but of course it couldn't be like that. Sometimes, Yuuki would find herself staring at Kirizu for a time and there were times when Kirizu or others would ask if there was anything wrong.

Yuuki avoided talking about herself mostly, but she was becoming tempted more and more to talk with Ana. Ana was so busy with trying to help everyone toward the goal of getting out of Sword Art Online, but Yuuki also knew she was one of the most important contributing factors to the Medicuboid project running early. The technology department partners, Nekano Mai and her main doctor, Kurahashi were the people keeping her and the other Medicuboid patients alive, but Yuuki felt that the missing link in herself and the others actually living through to the end could only be cured by Ana.

A large part of Yuuki just wanted to smile through the situation she found herself in, enjoy whatever she could, enjoy a normal life she never had the chance to because of the mess from the infections she fought to live through, and the way other people saw and treated her. She wanted to, but knowing that Ana was involved in the project which was helping her live, she felt that she had to know if Ana held the key which would save her and let her have a real, normal life again.

Yuuki was happiest with one factor that the Medicuboid brought by being early. Her older sister waited with the other Medicuboid patients. She only hoped that her sister would still be alive and waiting for her when she would get out of Sword Art Online, but confirming if Ana could figure out how to save Yuuki soon, would also answer whether they could save Yuuki's older sister from passing away. Yuuki felt desperate with the possibility that Ana might be the answer, to cling to her, but she was conflicted by her usual behaviour and her desperation. She hadn't worked up the courage to talk to Ana about her personal situation, and she had already told the others not to worry about her...

Some time in the afternoon, when Yuuki was no longer training with Leafa and Sinon, she walked around on floor ten looking around for something to do. When she was about to walk past the training ground, she could hear the clang of weapons colliding, so she turned and walked over out of curiosity. This was more like her, checking out if there was someone strong that she could fight. Of course she wanted to someday match Ana in battle, but that was a day very long off. When she saw that Ana was one of the people there, she was tempted to ask her for a match. She hung at the entrance of the training ground and watched. Ana was training Philia with a strange looking magic sword in Philia's hand. Anabelle was watching them and cheering the both of them on. Yuuki saw that Philia was growing close to being exhausted, and Ana closed the duel.

Ana walked over and sat beside Anabelle, pulling a water glass from her inventory to replenish a bit of energy she might have expended. Philia staggered over to sit down with them, and stopped along the way when she noticed Yuuki standing at the entrance of the training ground. When Philia stopped, Ana and Anabelle turned to look at Yuuki.

"Oh, would you like to join us for some training?"

The message window from Ana was met with a heavy mind behind Yuuki. She wanted desperately to finally act on her desire to ask Ana if she would be able to save her and her sister from dying...she walked over and sat with them, sending a private message to Ana.

"How...would you feel about being in contact with Mai-sensei and trying to solve...never mind..."

Yuuki sent it, but she was still too nervous to ask further. A part of her hoped for Ana to pick up the conversation from there, but another part of her wanted her to ignore the message and continue on with the training. When a response from Ana came asking what needed solving, Yuuki pulled together all of her courage and typed out the next private message to her. She asked if Ana knew anything about the medical conditions Yuuki and her sister were being treated for, if there was anything Ana knew about how to cure their medical conditions and save their lives...

When Ana received the message, she became serious and wore a very thoughtful expression. She arrived at some kind of thought, and started a call with Ryra, which she asked to have put through with Nekano Mai. Ryra was confused, but shrugged and patched the call through after they exchanged greeting and a confirmation of their love for each other. Mai answered her part of the call immediately as well, and she stared in surprise when she saw the people on the other side of the call.

"Ana-san!"

Ana typed her response. Mai wasn't the slightest surprised to receive text response from her.

"About the Konno family patients, I'd like to see if I could help you cure them completely instead of just delaying their symptoms from getting worse. After we all get out of here, maybe see if there's a way to get me onto your project team and save all of your patients in the Medicuboid project."

Mai's eyes swam with tears while reading the request from Ana.

"Of course. Is it fine to just sent you all of the information like this? I've been hoping you would come back and do something else amazing with your projects you left unfinished...this is the best Christmas present ever!"

Yuuki, Anabelle and Philia all laughed at the happy response of Mai on the other end of the call. Seconds passed, and a massive wall of information was sent to Ana, which saved to her messages, which she opened again and she started listening through the contents. Ana started highlighting a few things, and she sent another message to Mai before continuing to analyze the information.

"I'll need more information on both Yuuki and her sister in order to give you an answer, and it might take a week or two. I'll also need information on the medicine treatments and other treatments you're performing on them."

All of the people around Ana were surprised how little of a time window she was giving herself to solve how to save Yuuki's life. A week or two? To cure a terminal illness? What kind of brain did she have? None of them knew about what kind of schooling she took, but Ana thought about how she hadn't just done online linguistics, programming and her writing after her high school graduation. She didn't want Ryra to be the only one trying to get her back her eyes. However, she didn't need her eyes back, and even when she had found a method during her studies, she was determined to keep her normal. She could always cure her eyes when she returned to real life and recover properly, but she was keeping so much to herself. She liked appreciating the life she could live without vision, because of how rich everything else was.

The point was, Ana had studied medicine and...well, a lot during her time after high school. It was seven years, and with how fast she learned, she had actually learned most of her programming in very little time. She hadn't officially finished any of the virtual reality projects because she hadn't reached a guaranteed safe method, but she knew she was close. She just wasn't ready to promote something like Sword Art Online happening.

Ana's mind opened up, and after a few minutes of information being sent back and forth, Ana sent a formula to Mai, a medicine formula to use on Yuuki and her sister.

"That one is the first test. It is perfectly safe, and if it works, then you have a cure for three terminal illnesses. Send my part of earnings to Ryra please."

Mai stared at the formula that Ana had come up with after analyzing the information and she muted her end of the call, the obvious sign of how she reacted on the other side showing how excited she was.

"I never would have thought...! I'll call you this evening and let you know if there's any change!"

Mai cut the other end of the call, and the people around Ana looked at her with expectancy to tell them what Ana had given Mai.

"The answer to most of the most dangerous diseases and infections we contract in our lives is rarely a huge formula of a lot of tiny chemicals. The more chemicals, the more chance of there being adverse side effects. Yuuki and her sister have a certain information in their bodies which told me what was wrong when I heard them. The formula to solve those is shared with the same as the formula I came up with to force the body into a regenerative and healing state to eliminate illness from the body..."

Ana hoped that they wouldn't clue in on that it was also the cure to her voice and vision. She knew that if Mai told Ryra about what it would do, then Ryra would immediately use it on Ana to cure her vision. If Ryra found out that Mai got the formula from Ana...

Ana sighed and stood up, ready to continue with the training.

"So, who wants to do some more training?"

Yuuki understood what Ana had done in that short time. In minutes, Ana might have saved her life. She might have saved her and her sister's lives. She might have even saved some of the other patients. She stood up and walked to the other end of the training ground, and faced off against Ana. She wanted to express how happy she was that Ana went along with her selfish request, how thankful she was, and she would do that with however much she had managed to improve with the katana.

Yuuki readied herself and pressed the accept button for the duel. Sadly, she still couldn't land a single hit on Ana. She knew she had improved though. Nobody could land a hit on Ana. Not even Anabelle, and Ana went easy on Anabelle because of the obvious reason.

After the first practice match, Yuuki received a more detailed message window from Ana telling her what Ana's formula would do for her. The formula specifically sought out the infections that were ailing and threatening Yuuki's life currently, and would help her immune system redevelop since the information told Ana that Yuuki and her sister had collapsed immune systems. After the immune system would be reestablished, the immune system and the body would use the formula to resist and destroy the other infections that Ana had found in the information.

Yuuki was only more surprised to hear that Ana had been able to listen through all of the information that fast, let alone understand it and come up with a life saving formula from it. After the duel, Ana walked up to Yuuki, and Yuuki suddenly felt her body collapse.

Ana caught Yuuki from falling and she shook her head with a sigh.

"Is Yuuki okay?!"

Philia's concern for her was very welcome, Anabelle had run over. She wouldn't be able to tell from the avatar with them, but the first sign that the formula was working, was that it would knock the patient completely unconscious first, even the mind, meaning the avatar would be forced to sleep, for the beginning of the process to start.

Ana whispered this answer to Philia and Anabelle, and she carried her over to the inn Beta used. Yuuki was set down on her bed and Ana secured the room after leaving her there. She just needed to let herself rest through the treatment.

After they left the room, Ana received another call, this time it was straight from Mai.

"Well, they're both completely unconscious like the first part of your formula. Darn though...I didn't expect to see readings like that on their information to change. Seriously, that formula needs to be put to use all over the world. It could save so many people! It's working so fast too...they might even be completely cured by tonight with how strong the formula is!"

Ana touched her palm to her forehead with her left hand and typed a response to Mai's words while shaking her head.

"How much of a dose did you give them?"

Mai responded with...twice what Ana had given her. One creation of the formula to the specifics she had given Mai, was supposed to be enough to be used on both of them.

"Well, then they might just be cured by tonight, or you might have given them enough of a dose to make their bodies extend beyond their healing capability and die. That would be your fault for not reading the part about the formula being enough for two patients."

Mai's expression went from excited and proud of Ana's accomplishment with the formula, to horrified.

"Actually, the formula doesn't push the immune system to work hard until the immune system is restored completely, so it's more likely to restore their immune systems faster and push the regenerative abilities to recover any health they had lost...well, guess this just goes to show I was right in telling you it was safe. It is safe. I forgot for a moment that this formula works that way. They're safe. They'll be severely exhausted and physically a little weaker though for a few weeks after this because of how much the double dose will push them to heal faster."

Mai sighed in relief and made a show of making a full respectful bow to Ana.

"Seriously, you should have just gone into the medical field professionally, Ana-san! This could save so many lives! Too bad though...it won't be able to solve the Sword Art Online issue..."

"No need to worry about that. We can work on it from this end. If we complete Akihiko's requirements and we don't get set free, then I'll worry about figuring out a formula for saving everyone stuck in here. Until then..."

Ana closed the call and led the way down to the restaurant of the inn and back outside. She continued on to the training ground and returned to training Philia with the magic sword. Philia was getting better quite fast, but she still didn't learn as fast as Asuna or Kirizu. Nobody else in Beta learned as quickly as Anabelle. Philia was about between Asuna and Kirizu, and Leafa and Sinon as far as learning pace. Fast, but not remarkably fast.

Ana's mind was somewhat occupied with the information for Yuuki's situation while she was training Philia. She was concerned with how all of the medical issues had piled up like that. She really did need something akin to a miracle in the medical community to live. Usually, formulas like Ana's would be shut down by the governments around the world because they would cause too large a shift in balance of the population growth and fall. Some people could be saved in the tests, but patenting a cure all or anything that could be used to save a lot of people from something such as cancer, those would be shut down by the governments in a heart beat, and the medical community couldn't survive without the government.

After dinner, Ana brought Yuuki's plate to her room, to find her sitting confused on the bed, staring down at her virtual hands.

"You sure woke up quickly. I thought that idiot's double dose she gave you would have you out until midnight. Guess you're just that energetic. Here's some dinner."

Ana placed down the dinner on the bed table which appeared in place after selecting the option which would provide the table for Yuuki.

"Mai-sensei...she woke me up..."

Ana nodded her head, understanding that Mai was definitely the type to disturb a medical sleep if she regarded it as safe to do so.

"Mai-sensei told me that already, I'm...thank you so much, Ana-san...! Thank you...!"

Yuuki was in tears. She was so happy, that she couldn't hold it back.

"It's because you were strong enough to hold on for so long you made it. I suppose talking to me about it was part of it too, with how some things happen in the medical community. I hear your sister went right back to sleep and gave Mai the cold shoulder after waking her up. Her condition is doing very well. A full recovery in a week, and the possibility for her to return to a somewhat normal life in two months, after rehabilitation for her movement and strength. Not quite as strong as she would have been before your involvement in the Medicuboid project, but strong enough to get around. Another of the patients is also being treated with the formula, and is showing good signs of recovery already. Now, we just need to get you out of this game to get you back to your sister and your other friends."

Yuuki cried a lot. The happiness she felt was...it was the greatest relief in her life. She had felt a massive relief when she and her sister were invited to take their chances with the Medicuboid project even though it was in large untested, and it was working, but there had always been the thought that eventually, it would come to an end anyway. That she had to live her life like every moment mattered, and she should spend it happy. With the new situation made clear that she was going to have the chance at a normal life, without any of the medical issues she'd had, she could truly look forward to her future.

Eventually, Yuuki managed to cry herself out, and she was hungry for her dinner. With the first bite, her tears arrived again. She could truly enjoy every bite. It was so good...she wanted her sister to be able to eat such good food with her later. She thought of taking Ana's cooking lessons, and she thought about how much easier those must be than the combat lessons.

With every bite, Yuuki could feel the reality of her situation sinking in. She didn't have to stop living her life like every moment had to be happy. She could still definitely do that. It was in her nature. Now, she just didn't have the nagging thoughts to ask Ana if there was a way to save her and her sister. She could just live out her experience in Aincrad with her new friends and wait like them for the communications from her sister and friends through the same method of communication they were able to use.

When Yuuki finished, Ana deemed it time to convey the last of the information that Mai told her about. Yuuki's parents. They as well had many of the medical issues that Yuuki and Aiko, the daughters had. They were also being treated with the formula, but because of their bodies being older, and because there were other medical issues present, they were likely to be immobile for a period of time to simply recover from the exhaustion the formula would give them. Ana had been given their medical information to listen over, and unlike the issues Yuuki and Aiko had, their parents had other present medical issues which had been growing worse because of the presence of the issues the family shared. Yuuki stared at Ana as if she had just told her the worst tragedy ever had occurred, after the best news of her life.

"Y-you...you can save my parents too, can't you?"

Ana was emotionally torn to be giving Yuuki the news herself. Ana wasn't a doctor. She wasn't accustomed to people dying around her. That she had to tell Yuuki that the illnesses her parents had developed beyond what the formula could work on, it hurt her as well. The illness was also something that Ana couldn't understand. As raw information, it was essentially the same as encountering a glitch which couldn't be fixed. She would have to rework the information countless times, and even then, it was unlikely to find a cure which would save them from the newly developed illnesses. Nothing in the medical community could be done. The estimated amount of time Yuuki's parents had left, was about a year. Yuuki and her elder sister Aiko...would be orphaned.


	30. Chapter 30

~Uncelebrated Victory~

The time of the Christmas event came to a close. Ana and Anabelle were in their own room, talking about the unfortunate circumstances for Yuuki and her elder sister Aiko. Anabelle wanted to invite them into the family as well, but already there was a great deal of stress just in the idea that Ana's anxiety might not be able to handle having Asuna, Anabelle, and the possibility of another two children from her current pregnancy at home, let alone another two.

There was a part of Ana that wondered if her action truly saved Yuuki and Aiko, but she wouldn't let herself question it. Regardless what would happen to their parents, Yuuki and Aiko were alive. If Ana and Ryra could find a cure for her anxiety, then it could be a possibility...

For Yuuki, when the time of the event came to a close, she was in a call between herself and her sister through their Medicuboids. They both knew about their own and their parent's situations. They talked to each other at length about what they would do, and before the end of the conversation, Aiko suggested she and the other Medicuboid patients try and get into Sword Art Online with her. It wasn't any measure of a solution, but perhaps...even their parents could be able to experience Sword Art Online.

In the end, it was only an idea. Aiko was too afraid of getting stuck in the game which was famous for killing hundreds of people already. She wasn't ready to let their friends or their parents risk dying early to Sword Art Online either. They could just continue to experience their time together in the free projects which were otherwise flopping because of Sword Art Online's tragedy. Experience as much of a normal life together before their parents would pass away. Have the support of their friends. Because in the end, Aiko couldn't leave the hospital until she was fully rehabilitated, and she was being given permission to continue using the Medicuboid.

The rest of Beta could sense that they hadn't truly won the Christmas event. Even if they did receive the top victories individually between the guild, even if they won the first place as a guild, they didn't have the mood or atmosphere to celebrate their winning the event. They didn't know, and they wouldn't know about Yuuki's parents unless Yuuki decided to share the unfortunate event.

Even Kirizu, who was confirmed for her surgery since she was still waiting for the confirmation for raiding the floor ten boss and there was clearly a few weeks of catching up to do, she would be undergoing her surgery starting the next morning.

For Ana and Anabelle, their conversation was stopped when Ana decided to call Ryra.

The whispered words Ana conveyed to Ryra as soon as Ryra answered her end of the call shocked her.

"Send me my medical information. I'll try and cure my anxiety myself. By now I assume Mai has already told you about my having cured Konno Yuuki and Aiko."

Ryra was frozen in place on the other end of the communication the moment Ana started talking, Anabelle wondered if the video feed had lagged or frozen, but when Ryra started smoothly moving back to a comfortable position, she calmed down. She calmed down so much, it made Anabelle nervous.

"I did hear about the miracle you produced after observing some code and giving them a formula...how did you figure that out by the way? How do you know medical data that much...?"

"I wouldn't have made it as far as I did with the virtual reality research without doing some medical research. I only went so far with it. It just so happens that the data I needed to know for their sake was data I learned about when I was studying it. It was useless for virtual reality research, but it's saving lives now. Worth it enough. Now I want to know if what I do know is going to be enough for me to cure my anxiety while I'm still in here."

Ryra sighed and started working with her computer a little on the other end while continuing the conversation.

"I would like to know if you also stumbled across a cure for your vision and your voice while you were studying, but I suppose that if you did and didn't cure yourself, then...whatever. Anyway, here's your current medical data, every bit. At least as far as all of your brain readings. The rest would have to wait until morning. Now, a reason for why you're so determined to do medical research and making cures?"

Ana focused on listening to the information that she received. There was far too much congested information to get through all of it with the conversation.

"I suppose this determination started with the notion of being able to save Yuuki and her sister's lives. Since I'm just that kind of person. You know I'm not able to be licensed as a practitioner of medicine or be a doctor or physician. The only way I could influence the medical community is through saving a select few before the governments decide to shut me down and any cures I make. Apparently my cure for Yuuki and Aiko, didn't work on their parents, whose conditions are beyond my knowledge in the medical field to cure. They only have a year left. Those girls will live through this and will be orphaned because I can't save their parents, then we might as well take in another pair of daughters and cure my anxiety. Then at least they could have a home and new parents to go to when this is all done. Besides, I'm sick of suffering through my anxiety. I never bothered trying to figure it out and cure it, because I was comfortable at home, wherever home was. I was comfortable having the few important people around in my life. Now, I guess I'm a little greedy with my desire to be a good mother."

Ryra sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Good luck with understanding your brain-"

"Thanks. I had to study the brain immensely to get the basics down for the virtual reality projects. Even with how much I studied of the brain, I wasn't able to get it right. I was close though. I bet if I had a month to dedicate to another device, I could have a safe full dive device running, even a medical devoted one for Mai's project. I really do hope that I studied the part of the brain I need in order to figure out the anxiety issue."

Ryra shook her head and leaned back forward, looking through to Ana and the intensity of her appearance might have had some kind of emotional effect on Ana if her vision were engaged, but instead she was looking impressive for Anabelle alone.

"How are you doing, Anabelle? Isn't it a little late?"

Anabelle shook her head in response to Ryra's question.

"It isn't late, Mama Ryra. I'm sad. For Yuuki-chan and Aiko-chan. I wanna help Mama as much as I can!"

Ryra and Ana smiled at the good and positive energy Anabelle was able to inject to the mood of the conversation.

"I'm glad you're going to be helping her. You two really should get some sleep. And so should I with Kazu's surgery coming up tomorrow morning. I love you both. Good night."

Ryra ended the call from her end. Ana agreed with the sentiment of the end of the conversation, and had Anabelle go to sleep. For herself, Ana couldn't calm down. She had to buckle down and try her best...she really did need sleep though...

After an hour of listening through the information from her brain information, she couldn't find her anxiety issue at all. Decided she had done enough for the night and she would get enough sleep to wake up normally the next morning, she set herself for sleep.

When Ana woke up the next morning, she set to the kitchen and made breakfast with Asuna and Kirizu, reminding Kirizu about the start of her appointment in two hours from the time they met up in the kitchen. The atmosphere between them was a little awkward. Kirizu was nervous for her appointment, Asuna was nervous for the call she would be there for to see the result of Kirizu's surgery. Ana was stewing over the information from the night before. About how she was likely to spend most of the day if she were left to her devices and just analyze her brain's information to see if she could find a cure for her anxiety.

The air was thick enough with the tension of the many different things all three would be facing, that they ended up not talking much after acknowledging any plans for the day and what they would make for food.

After breakfast was made and served to those who arrived in time for breakfast, the air felt even thicker with the tension. It was all within a game, so couldn't they really cut the tension? The answer to that was still no.

The breakfast passed, and Kirizu and Asuna returned to their bedroom to talk and wait for the surgery time. The others left for their plans for the day, and since Yuuki hadn't come down for breakfast, Ana decided to bring her breakfast to her.

Anabelle was still sleeping properly when she passed their room, and Yuuki was sitting on the bed, hugging the pillow tight enough to strangle a person in real life. The tension was even heavier in the air of her bedroom.

Ana's message window signalling she had arrived with Yuuki's breakfast drew her attention up, and she lifelessly looked back down to her feet. Ana walked in regardless and set up her breakfast on the bed's table. Ana stood beside the bed, and leaned back against the wall. Eventually, Yuuki started eating the breakfast, but she was clearly not enjoying it unlike every other time she ate any of the meals prepared for her.

She wasn't in a good mood at all. She didn't want to talk to Ana. She had brought the situation on herself by asking Ana to save her and her sister. She shouldn't be angry at Ana for her not being able to also save her parents. She was just...depressed that in the end, her time with her parents was cut short because of her curiosity to check out the link to Sword Art Online. They would have passed away regardless of what Ana would have done. She would have had time in her life without her parents. Likely without her sister as well before she would pass away. Now her and her sister were saved because of the one miracle Ana could provide. The unfortunate truth was just that Ana didn't have every miracle she could wish for in her life.

At least...she was able to talk to her parents and her sister through the virtual video communication they could talk and see each other through. Yuuki just couldn't be where they were until she cleared Sword Art Online. And Sword Art Online was unlikely to be cleared before her parents would pass away because of the new disease which developed because of their decline in health.

For once in her life, she was completely healthy. For once in her life, she had been looking forward to the future. She was so thrilled to have a future to look forward to. To learn that she couldn't have that future with her parents...

After she finished her breakfast, the tears returned. Ana subconsciously began petting her head, trying to soothe her however she could, and she listened to the information given to her on her brain. She listened through a lot of information, and she still wasn't even a decent chunk of the way through the information. At least, the amount she had been through had given her the lack of reading from her eyes and her vocal chords. That there was no connection to the organs that provided the functions to the brain. While Ana absently pet Yuuki's head and listened through the information, the timer hit for Anabelle to wake up, and she stopped petting Yuuki's head. Yuuki had stopped crying some part of the way through.

"...please don't go..."

Yuuki's voice was such a quiet whisper, Ana's advanced hearing barely picked it up.

"I'm only giving Anabelle her breakfast. I'll be right back."

Yuuki shook her head and whispered it again.

"...please, don't go...!"

Ana returned to the wall beside Yuuki, and sent a message to Anabelle, for Anabelle to come to Yuuki's room for her breakfast. There was a table on the other side of Ana from the bed where she set down Anabelle's food, and when Anabelle arrived, she began eating her breakfast right away. Yuuki continued to cry, and Ana continued to pet her head. Eventually, Yuuki stopped crying yet again. Ana continued listening to the information on her brain, and Anabelle leaned over on the table, taking a nap. Ana had told Anabelle not to do that because it wasn't good for her posture, to which Ana relocated Anabelle to the foot of the bed. At least when people were sleeping within the game, they didn't toss and turn, so Anabelle would be fine.

Finally, some time around lunch, Ana finally found the section of her brain's information dealing with her anxiety. Unfortunately, there was a lot of information she would have to go over. She set down the lunch for Yuuki on the bed table, and woke Anabelle safely and put her lunch out on the other table.

Having the opportunity to section out the information of her brain regarding her anxiety, Ana saved that and after the three of them had their breakfast, she moved again from the wall beside Yuuki.

"Well, time to go stretch our legs. That means you as well, Yuuki. Sometimes the best thing when you're upset about something, is to just stretch your legs. Get yourself exercising enough to breathe it out. Sometimes, you just need to talk about it. Sometimes, something else will come along and give you a reason not to be upset. The only way something will come along and give you a reason not to be upset, is to not stay in the same place in the same condition. Be thankful for what you do have. Don't concentrate so much on the upsetting things in life. At least, all of these things are easy enough to say. Still, it'll be good for you to have a little walk. Crying is a good outlet, but just being sad isn't going to do anything."

Yuuki looked up from her sitting position toward Ana, and blinked away some of the tears still on the edges of her eyes. She was about to look back down and just stay where she was, but the strong parts of her pushed her to following as Ana said. She stood up, and continued to look at Ana. Before she could even think about it, the emotions hit her again. She was still young, not much older than Anabelle. When she felt a similar height difference from Ana to her mother, she reached out and hugged Ana.

"At least I'm not a pillow that doesn't respond, right? Let's go. After some walking around, I'll give you some ice cream. Something sweet is always nice."

Yuuki nearly started crying, but she trembled a little with the feelings trapped in her chest. She was able to hold it back, and took a deep breath before suggesting something else. Something that her mother used to make for her and her sister.

"How about...instead of ice cream, a crepe?"

Anabelle liked the idea as well. Ana thought about it a second and decided to take them down to the kitchen so she could prepare the crepes, one for each of the children with her. She stored them away in her inventory, and continued the tone that they would only be given as a reward for going through with the walk.

Ana took them out to the streets. The afternoon was quiet. Some people were talking to their families through the communication hospitals were able to set up, and some people were just lazing about. The guilds and groups who aimed to join the raid team to take on the floor ten boss monster were out in the fields and nowhere to be seen within towns. Even The Army had taken a break from their constant struggle to power forward. The atmosphere and sparsity of the people around were a near ideal situation for Ana's anxiety, and it was something she enjoyed just because of the atmosphere. The forever falling light snow condition of the tenth floor was so soothing after all.

Yuuki managed to calm down plenty as well. Anabelle enjoyed walking around, holding hands with her mother every day, so it was no different that day. Ana held a hand on either side of her. Yuuki stood on her left side, and Anabelle stood on her right side. Both held a hand. Yuuki was a little taller than Anabelle, so the feel of holding hands was a little different with her. Anabelle's hand felt just right in Ana's hand. Yuuki's hand in hers quickly became a comfortable fit though.

Their walk brought them to the artisan district, where there was NPC vendors and shops for foods, clothing, alchemy, and cosmetics. As well as the barber shop. Yuuki hadn't done anything with her appearance within Sword Art Online. She continued to sport the look that she had during her time in Serene Garden with her family and the other Medicuboid patients. She had no real attachment to the appearance she had used in Serene Garden. When they were about to pass the barber shop, Yuuki subconsciously pulled at Ana's hand and continued to stare toward the barber shop. The thing about the barber shop, was that even the NPCs had the ability of the mirror which Kayaba Akihiko had at the beginning of the game. The ability to make the person appear as who they really were.

Ana responded to Yuuki's gesture with a smile and she led them inside. Yuuki had more and more the sense while in the shop, that she should return to herself...but a little healthier. She was rather thin after all. When she requested her change with the barber, she was taken to the back room of the shop where she had a full customization option like when she entered Serene Garden. She was located to a comfy little cottage room with a full body mirror and many options with which to customize herself. Seeing the virtual self in a reflection again felt so strange. It was nothing like her. Slightly taller than she really was. So much healthier and stronger. The long dark purple hair was definitely unlike hers. She changed as she noticed the differences, and eventually, she somehow felt she was looking at herself when she would be healthy again outside of the game, just wearing the usual gear she had since her time in Serene Garden.

She decided to keep her hair at the natural length, how long it was outside of the game.

The real Yuuki Konno, looked back at her in the mirror. She was a frail girl, but the sickness was gone from her reflection. She had chin length straight cut dark brown hair, nearly black in darkness. Her eyes were also a dark brown like Kirizu's. She had a very pale complexion, and she had to admit to liking the purple of her armour, but it really didn't suit her real appearance. Perhaps something a little more to the tachi would be fun. Seeing a healthy version of herself made her feel happy. It reminded her more of how much Kirizu seemed like an older sister to her. Kirizu didn't even look much like Aiko, but she gave the same kind of feeling as her. Almost always letting her emotions guide her. Almost.

Yuuki followed through with that kind of thinking in mind, pressing the confirm option. She exited from the customization room to face Ana and Anabelle. Both were smiling wide from the real appearance of Yuuki. For them to be happy...it was already enough. It was so much of a risk to reveal herself online, but everyone else in Sword Art Online already had their identities exposed. It was only fair for her to be herself as well.

"Yuuki is really pretty!"

Anabelle was cute and honest about her opinion of how Yuuki looked.

"You are very cute, Yuuki-chan."

Ana's comment was like hearing her mother tell her that an outfit suit her, or that she was very cute from any kind of situation. Yuuki smiled wide and walked over them. She had paid before going in to customize her appearance, so she was able to leave with Ana and Anabelle. The more she thought about it, Yuuki realized how happy and family like her relationship was in Sword Art Online. She had plenty of siblings, and Anabelle was the adorable younger sister who looked the most like her mother. Asuna was the eldest sister who also looked rather similar to their mother in some ways. The others all could be explained as inheriting from the other parent, but they were all Ana's children. Agil was the supportive uncle who helped Ana out however he could, and the older siblings also did their best to help out. Yuuki liked the idea of not being the youngest child of the family. Having such a cute little sister like Anabelle would definitely be nice.

Yuuki let herself think that way, and on the way back to the inn, Ana gave Anabelle and Yuuki their crepes. Ana's crepes were delicious, and again brought tears to Yuuki's eyes. Happy tears. It tasted just like her mother's crepes. For a moment, she forgot about her parents. After all, with such a caring family with her in Aincrad she had nothing to worry about. Ana would definitely take care of her. Ana was doing her best to make sure of that, working as much as she could to curing her anxiety.


	31. Chapter 31

~Recovery~

Sachi was happy to hear about the mood change with Yuuki. It seemed she was recovering from whatever had been ailing her. For Sachi, she was exhausted. Like Ana, she hided how exhausted she was from the others and pushed herself a lot. She did well when she was able to split up from them.

Truly, she was still afraid. She was afraid of fighting monsters at all. She recalled before going to bed every night how reckless they had been in the second floor dungeon, and she was afraid of going to sleep. She was afraid every time she went out to fight monsters with everyone, even knowing she was safe with them. She had been worried a lot about being close to the monsters at all. Many of them looked frightening with their appearances, and that only made it more difficult fighting them. She appreciated that Ana helped space her out from the monsters slightly with the spear instead of using a sword and shield to help tank for the Midnight Black Cats. Truthfully, she had started out with a spear because she was so afraid of the monsters. She figured it safer than using a sword and shield.

Currently, her fear of the monsters made her tempted to ask any of the bow users, Sinon, Kirizu or Ana if there was a possibility they could teach her to use a bow and her healing magic and mostly be a ranged support for them. She was afraid of disappointing them though.

Before she was tired enough to send herself off to sleep, she realized she was too restless from the thought of fighting the monsters further. She didn't need to worry about fighting monsters for a while with Kirizu recovering from her surgery and Beta waiting for other people to catch up and be ready enough to fight alongside them against the boss monster.

Because of her restlessness, Sachi got out of her bed and made her way out of the room. Sometimes, she would go to the restaurant of the inns they were staying at, sit down at a table and have a drink of cocoa that Ana refilled for her whenever Sachi mentioned she was out. When Sachi reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw that Ana was sitting alone at a table, facing a small plate with a crepe on it and she had a mug of some hot fluid in her hands. A text window appeared in front of Sachi when she stopped.

"How are you feeling?"

Sachi took a deep breath, and walked over to sit across from Ana at the table. She pulled her cocoa from her inventory and held it in her hands, mimicking Ana's holding of her drink. Sachi could smell it from closer, the thick aroma of a rich dark coffee. When she looked into the cup which was still completely full, she noticed that Ana had her coffee black. She couldn't imagine being able to handle the bitter taste of black coffee, so she took a sip of her cocoa before finally answering Ana with a slightly straightened mind.

"I'm...exhausted."

Ana nodded her head and sighed.

"Aren't we all..."

The text window didn't appear that time. Ana's whispered voice soothed Sachi. Sachi could count the amount of times she'd heard Ana's voice.

"So, I get the feeling that there's something else aside being exhausted keeping you up this late. And you do this often. Sorry I've been putting off talking with you."

The return of the text window was quick. Sachi was still savouring the sound of the soothing voice in her ears. Sachi became nervous again, reminded of the topic that kept her from sleeping peacefully.

"I'm afraid..."

Ana nodded her head. It wasn't any surprise to her that Sachi was afraid. Anyone with a rational mind would be afraid. They were stuck in a life or death experience. But then, every day life was life and death. It was just more present in Aincrad with the monsters, traps and progressively more difficult challenges they would face in the future. Sachi needed to clarify, she felt. She took a sip of her cocoa again, and continued with as much courage as she could pull together.

"Even the distance of the spear doesn't help with facing the monsters. I'm so terrified...of fighting them."

Ana hummed a little and took a sip from her coffee. An item appeared to enter Sachi's inventory from a notification window. A bow with holy and healing attributes on it.

"I've been meaning to give it to you and train you in using it for a while, but everyone else has been very proactive in gathering my attention. It's a little late, but better now than when you really need the range desperately...again, sorry."

Ana was very apologetic. She knew how difficult it was for Sachi. It was very easy to imagine how such a nervous person would feel given the circumstances. Sachi was the type who was meant for support. Ana had just been so diverted with everyone else to focus on Sachi since her time recruiting her. Sachi was meant for support, but not close combat support. Ranged support was far more natural for her. Having the breathing room to rationally think everything out, and contribute from a range where the support was needed most. She did well at close range, but only because her personality was decided on helping the friends around her so much she tried ignoring her fear.

Ignoring her fear wasn't a good thing. It only brought out Sachi's exhaustion and made it more difficult for her to balance her life out. Ana knew that from the amount of time they had spent together. It was closing in on two months that a large part of the group had been together. Ana would be disappointed in herself if she didn't know why Sachi was distressed at this point.

Sachi smiled when she finished checking over the bow, and took another sip of her cocoa, a lot of her nervous atmosphere dispelled.

"Again, Ana-san is so impressive. You already knew how I felt. Thank you for always taking care of all of us..."

Sachi sighed after saying those words. Her mind drifted to a couple of other things. Her friendships within Beta. The lack of connection she had with her club friends from school, the Midnight Black Cats. The people she cared most about. Those she admired. The desire to return home to her family at the end. It wasn't all just a dream with the people around her. It was a goal, and she was working toward it with her friends. She only hoped to be able to spend time with all of her friends when they returned outside of the game. She like others in Beta had the chance to talk to her family for the Christmas season as a sort of reason, her parents making some time from work to communicate with her and let her know they were proud of her for working so hard.

"As I am, I would have been disappointed if I couldn't figure out your anxieties after how long we've spent together in Aincrad. We're similar in the ways of our anxiety. In fact, I've been working on figuring out my own anxiety and how to cure it. Of course, personality wise we'd need to work on our reactions to our triggers after, but being able to cure such a thing would open up a lot of the world to us. I can't help but think of the people around me who might be effected by my research."

Sachi smiled. She couldn't help it. Ana was just always so soothing and reassuring. It was like having her most understanding aunt there with her in the game, somehow being like a superhero. Ana was real though. She wasn't her aunt, but someone just as incredible. Sachi didn't see her as a mother, because she had her mother she was eager to return to. She saw Ana as a goal she wanted to reach. To become just as incredible as her.

Otherwise, Sachi's feelings about those around her...she had to admit she was impressed by everyone. Yuuki for example, had been fighting despite her own worries she was dealing with, and she finally had the courage to bring them up to Ana. She was depressed for a short while, but Ana picked her right back up from it. Asuna was like a big sister to most of the group, with the exception of Ana and Agil of course. Agil was like a friendly uncle to pretty much all of the group. Asuna took care of everyone, and doted on the youngest of Anabelle and Yuuki often when she wasn't focused on her relationship with Kirizu. Asuna took on the courage to refer to Ana as her mother, and the others in Beta had heard about the situation, of it being likely for her to be adopted by Ana and Ryra-sensei.

Sachi took another sip of her cocoa, smiling about her thoughts of everyone. How fond she was of the different kinds of such caring people there were around her, how they sort of fit into some kind of family scenario. Sachi herself, felt like she was more a close cousin to the family who was building around her.

She thought further about them, remembering that Leafa and Kirizu were legally now actual siblings, and Sinon was just as close with that kind of feeling to her, a close sister. Sachi was envious of that, being an only child in her family.

Lisbeth was like another cousin to the big family around them, having her own attitude and feelings about Kirizu and Asuna's relationship, how everyone was like a big family. Lisbeth felt that Asuna was too honest and ready to throw her emotions where they stuck, and that was with Kirizu. Worse, Sachi could easily tell that for whatever reason, Lisbeth had developed a keen eye for Kirizu herself. She remembered how Leafa and Sinon had been more like that toward Kirizu. Thankfully, that had tamed down considerably. Lisbeth though...perhaps it was easier to tell that it was her respect for how heroic Kirizu often seemed in battle that she had been developing feelings for her. Sachi had to admit to her own developing feelings for Kirizu. Though she would admit her feelings to herself, she wouldn't reveal them to anyone who hadn't already noticed. She hoped nobody noticed.

As far as Philia, Sachi still knew next to nothing about her. Apparently she was a language partner for Anabelle learning Japanese, which was impressive. She was also someone who was warming up to Ana quickly, like another daughter. She felt that maybe she was about the same age, possibly older than Asuna, but again, Sachi didn't know.

Individual thoughts on Leafa, led Sachi to understanding that she was normally a very dedicated person. She threw herself head first into something she made important to her. Whether it was her previous obvious feelings for Kirizu, her kendo, or her trust in the people around her, she was one of the first to fully trust any new addition to the group, mostly from her stalwart trust of Ana's judgement. She was friendly, outgoing and like many, tried to seem happy even if she was upset over something. She was good at handling her feelings.

Sinon, was a very focused person. She put her goals in front of her and focused on them. Whether it be getting out of the game, downing an enemy in front of her or supporting the people important to her, she was the person who felt fit the role for support better than she felt herself to be. Which was what promoted Sachi's thought of being a bow user more as well.

"So, what kind of gear situation would you like now, as far as design? Since you'll be focusing on being a ranged support, something lighter so you could move around more sounds like it would suit you well. Plus, if there were sudden back attacks, you would want to be more mobile to avoid them."

Ana broke Sachi's train of thinking with the text window asking about how Sachi would like to change up her other equipment with making the bow her primary weapon. Sachi giggled a little. Only Ana could break up her thoughts so thoroughly, and it was a decent stopping point. If left alone to her thoughts, Sachi could end up thinking for hours without resolving anything. It was why she was exhausted. Because she often ended up staying up so late when she would get into a thinking mood, that she wouldn't get much sleep at all.

Thinking about new gear...she would like something more like the comfortable clothes. She really liked the free feeling she had while wearing the comfort wear, and how comfortable they were. That kind of feeling all of the time, with some more defence really would be so nice, she thought.

Sachi expressed her thoughts on updating her gear, and Ana nodded her head with a smile. She made note of it and produced the closest thing to a voiceless yawn. Seeing Ana yawn made Sachi realize how tired she was. She yawned as well, the usual saying of a yawn being contagious proving true even in a virtual experience. The two of them motioned to laugh, but they made no sound. In the end, Ana sighed and downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp, taking a bite from her crepe and putting the plate in her inventory, continuing to hold onto the crepe with her fingers. Another crepe on a plate appeared in front of Sachi, and another text window showed up in front of Sachi.

"You really should get some rest. If you're feeling better and more at ease, head straight to bed. Eat the crepe now, or save it for another night like this, and remember that sleep is important. Ah, and I'll have some more cocoa ready for you with tomorrow's breakfast to put in your inventory. Try and speak up once in a while or send me a message if you find it difficult to find a time. If you can't, I'll find the time to talk. You're also important to us, so be more assertive of yourself. And tell us if you're too afraid to go out and face monsters at all, if the distance of the bow isn't enough. I'm sure I could let go of another craft and teach it to you so you could relieve some of my to do list."

Sachi smiled and giggled, continuing at her cocoa, realizing she had finished after going to sip at it again. Her eyes drifted back toward Ana, who was already only in earshot from her footsteps, no longer in sight. Sachi remembered something she often heard from Ana, while she heard her walk away to her room, and the door to the room she and Anabelle shared closed.

"Vision often clouds perception of the more important things...huh..."

Sachi wondered about that, and thought that maybe she would give a try at following that kind of mentality with Ana. Plus, maybe if she could perceive monsters otherwise, maybe she wouldn't be afraid of them. A thought gave her the idea that maybe she was afraid of monsters in the game because they looked scary. She had experience playing games, having her separate avatar fighting as a tank role or a forward support. The monsters she fought in those games were no different from the monsters she was currently facing, so the only reason she should ever be afraid of one, would be if she knew nothing about them. Considering it that way, she knew the monsters of Aincrad she had met so far. They were just data and information programmed to act a certain way and provide an obstacle for a player. She was in her avatar's shoes now, and she moved her avatar with her movements. Her avatar was never afraid of the monsters. Her avatar was never afraid of playing with other people, grouping up to have fun fighting dungeons and strong boss monsters.

With those thoughts, Sachi absently picked up the crepe and took a bite. She sat there and let the sugar of the crepe dissolve in her mouth. Experiences like that often made her forget she was in the game. The delicious food Ana, Kirizu and Asuna made was often convincing enough to tell her she was just in another place in the world, forced into such an unbelievable situation.

The sweet and melting texture of the crepe was better than she remembered it being in real life. Sometimes, she would get a crepe after school with her club friends with the Midnight Black Cats. She was reminded of doing that, and smiled. It really was so blissful, how much people could take their happiness for granted. Someone like Ana truly was incredible. She fought for everything in her life, and she knew it. A lot of people in the modern day in prosperous countries could live their entire lives without needing to go too far out of their way to live their lives. It wasn't much of a life, nothing spectacular like the history studied in school. It was comfortable and for the most part, happy. That was what was important to her, and she wanted to return to that. Perhaps she would learn to cook like Ana. Or take up some kind of crafting like clothing design. Maybe she would go into human studies and become a therapist for other people like herself. She didn't know. She wouldn't know until she tried. Until she would get out of the game, she would do her best to learn more from Ana, and be close with her important friends. Of Beta and Midnight Black Cats.

The night passed, and Sachi finished her crepe. She did sleep after eating the crepe. She could almost feel the effect it had on her in real life, making her so sleepy. The sugar drained the last of her energy, and when she hit her bed, she fell asleep as usual.

In the morning, Asuna and Ana were the only ones to prepare breakfast. Kirizu was too sore to move from the bed, still feeling the effects from the surgery. As explained to her, it would take at least a few days to be able to move around much at all from the waist down. It was such a strange feeling. Kirizu didn't feel the experience directly with her avatar, but she definitely felt the aching pain of her body being changed. Until the surgery after she had confirmed the decision to change, she had been on a high paced hormone therapy so her body would be ready for the surgery in time hormone wise. Kirizu thought to the older version of the surgery, how the patients needed to continue taking some hormones for the rest of their lives after the surgery, and how even with the surgery, they couldn't fulfil the role of being a true mother or a true father, aside rare circumstances like Ana and Ryra.

Asuna and Ana were quiet and peaceful while they made breakfast and lunch for the day. Asuna was caught off guard when after they finished readying the breakfast and lunch early before the others would start heading down, Ana started working on some other things. Ana continued on, making a lot of little snacks, from crepes, to icicles, to smoothies, chocolates. She also made a bunch of hot drinks, such as cocoa, tea, coffee, many warm drinks.

Asuna was in a trance when she watched Ana so calmly and happily make everything. Asuna wondered, how was Ana so happy to make the food, before knowing how the others thought of it? Asuna shook her head and smiled. She could think from all of the happy and sweet scents in the air that of course everyone would be happy. If it wasn't for the pure fact that it was made by Ana, it would be for the fact that Ana knew everyone's tastes.

Ana had learned what everyone liked through all of the meals together. Nearly two months together, she thought. That was enough time for Asuna to figure out that at the time, Ana herself liked bitter foods and drinks. She was more fond of strong black coffee and smooth textures, but with a slightly bitter touch to their tastes. She liked lemons. She liked mints without anything else. It was rare, but once in a rare while on her own, Ana could be seen biting on a mint leaf. Ana also did enjoy sweets. And savoury tastes. She enjoyed her meat dishes soft enough that they could melt and nearly drink them. She was also certain to not produce the same meals within the same week. Whether it meant she change up the recipe a little or a lot, or use a completely different recipe for a meal, there was always a balance, and too much of a delicious dish wouldn't happen.

Asuna had learned a lot about cooking from Ana, even though Ana didn't really teach much about cooking. All it took, was watching her and understanding her reasoning for different actions. The only key needed, was understanding the tastes and reasons why she put certain things together to make a certain dish. Because of that, Asuna ended up spending some of her time with Kirizu before in trying to understand and learn more about the recipes and create their own recipes from the information they learned.

Still, Asuna's favourite dish was one Kirizu made only twice since they entered the game. It was a steak stew. The meat was so soft and full of seasoning, it was like the most savoury drink, instead of the most savoury bite. The steak pulled apart like a braised pork, but it was far more juicy than that, making it like a drink instead of the dryness of pork being present.

That was absolutely delicious, and it was the only recipe that Kirizu kept to herself. When Asuna had asked her before about it, the answer she received was that it was because Kirizu learned it from her mother.

While Kirizu was trying to get through the pain of the surgery the day before, Kirizu told Asuna a lot about herself. How she used to be so adamant about being a boy when it came to her cousin...younger sister now, Leafa. How she was so determined when it came to anything regarding her archery and kendo. To be strong, but to prove her father wrong. That she could be strong without putting more time into it.

Kirizu was incredibly strong. She had supported Sinon and her little brother while they were growing up. Kirizu had been like a wonderful older sister to them. She learned diligently from her mother and enjoyed most if not all of her time with her.

Closer to the time that Kirizu lost her parents, she had been a little more distant to them. She had made some space for herself, because she had been questioning herself on what was right for herself. Was it really right to just keep going in such a zigzagging path? She didn't know. She didn't find out until she met Ana. Kirizu had thought that she had to be a boy because she was born one. When she lost her parents, she lost the will to do anything about herself. She just did whatever was in front of her. It just so happened that because she was in a house of girls, Kirizu naturally ended up being more of a girl. She was admitted to the same girls only private school system Leafa had been in with Sinon. The three of them went to the school together.

Kirizu had laughed when she admitted that it wasn't strange at all for her to be there. What was more strange to her, were the few men on the teaching staff and her popularity because of how she had seemed to be a big sister to Sinon. Kirizu took care of her and Leafa, but she was silent. She didn't talk. She even had many love confessions toward her. Other girls of the school, even if they knew that Kirizu had been a boy at the time, at a girls school. Boys from other schools who saw her with Sinon and Leafa on their way to school confessed their feelings to her. Kirizu even admitted to Asuna that she'd only remotely had feelings similar to what were so strong with Asuna, when she was young and caring for Sinon. Before the accident, maybe those feelings might have been close to real. After the accident, Kirizu's feelings were lost.

She found her feelings again when the death game began. Not during the Beta which she played with Sinon. She found them when she woke up and realized there was danger in her life again. There had been bliss before when she was at that school, and without talking ended all of the confessions toward her by turning around and walking away. At the school in her past before Sword Art Online, Kirizu didn't feel anything.

Even Kirizu didn't know when Ana's presence started to change her. Was it when they met in the alley off of the plaza after everyone found out about the death game? Was it when they met at the bakery in the second town on the first floor? Was it when Ana found out the game had definitely made Kirizu a girl? No...by the time Ana found out, Kirizu already knew. It was before then, that she realized who she really was. It was before she met Asuna at the bakery with Ana, because Kirizu fell in love with Asuna at first sight in the bakery. She had done all she could to keep her nerves together and just put the bread in the oven and heat it up so that Leafa and Sinon could have buttered bread.

Asuna's heart raced with the memories that Kirizu had recounted to her while she underwent the painful process of the surgery. Remembering those memories clearly as Kirizu recited them, one after another, was like another needle to a vein which would cause the blood to rush to her heart. Make her heart beat faster.

Kirizu was driven by her emotions. She had been driven by her emotions in the beginning to take care of Sinon, even though she preferred playing games on her own and not involving others in dangerous situations. She had been driven to take care of Leafa as well when she found out she was also in the game. She couldn't just leave them behind and forge forward. Those two were too important to her to leave them behind. Kirizu was such a good person, that even without Ana pulling so much of the group together, Kirizu would likely have formed such a large group around her as well, of people who she wanted nothing more than to protect with all she had.

Asuna knew with all of her heart that she loved Kirizu. She knew it, and she didn't know what to do with all of them. Her mind was drawn back to the kitchen, where Ana was starting to bring out the breakfast dishes to the restaurant section. Asuna followed her lead, flustered from her thoughts.

For Asuna, she was eager for Kirizu to recover. To return to showing off how strong she was. To doing her best to protect and help everyone.

Asuna also thought of Anabelle, and how she would be an older sister. Anything about family, whether the family in the future when she would be adopted into Ana and Ryra's family, or the family she would start with Kirizu, made her feel warm and her most comfortable inside.

Breakfast was surprisingly cheerful after the mood of the previous day. Philia had joined the guild and she was opening up a little to the others aside Ana and Anabelle. Yuuki was doing better. So much better, and she had changed her look immensely. Her gear type was even changed to something which suited her very nicely. Even Sachi was much more cheerful. Everyone who had been in a sour mood before, seemed better. Kirizu and Anabelle wouldn't be eating breakfast with the group, but that was because of Anabelle's sleeping schedule and Kirizu not being able to move from the bed. Overall, everyone was in much higher spirits than they had been. Those who didn't know the cause for the changes...well, they either didn't know Ana yet, or everyone knew the cause. Most of the mood being restored was because of Ana.

Ana as usual didn't spend her time with the large part of the group. She took hers and Anabelle's food upstairs, and Asuna went up with her, bringing hers and Kirizu's food to their room. Kirizu would have her breakfast right away since she was awake...just not particularly energetic. A surgery like that could cause a lot of exhaustion, and a severe amount of pain for a while, but in the end, a surgery was a medical procedure, and was meant to in most cases save a person's life or change it for the better.

Ana had her plans for later in the day with Anabelle, going into the crafting district and working on Sachi's new equipment. She would invite Sachi along for that. As for Asuna...

"I'm back."

"Welcome back."

The exchange of greeting when Asuna returned to their room were as if they had already gotten used to being a married couple. They hadn't even reached the point in the game that they could get married...even though there was a system for it in the game. One of the features of the system, inventory sharing was something that they did however. There was already a guild inventory everyone could access at any time, which was how Ana instantly gave people most of their items from a long distance. Sometimes, they were mystified about how Ana knew everything she did. Did she just have some sort of method to expand how much time she had in a day compared to everyone else, and know all the different outcomes? Such a thing...Asuna shook her head and set up hers and Kirizu's meals on the bed table. Kirizu smiled and appreciated every little bit of the food on the plate. She made a point to exaggerate the enjoyment of the tastes with vocal queues, but Asuna only ended up laughing and having a hard time continuing with eating her own breakfast.

"How is everyone else doing? I was pretty worried with how everyone seemed the last few days..."

Kirizu's concern made Asuna's heart swell and warm. She was so happy to hear of Kirizu being concerned of the others. It was only reassuring to her that Kirizu was so devoted to the people around her. It proved the point she had been thinking on before. The point she near constant had on her mind.

"Actually, either a miracle hit the guild yesterday, or Mom was really busy."

Kirizu laughed in response, sighing and laying back on her pillow when she was able to get it out. She smiled and hummed a little. A song that Asuna recognized from some of their nights together, and especially the night when their relationship began.

"What is that song, by the way? I've been putting it off, but I'm really curious. I wonder if I might know it."

The question from Asuna stopped Kirizu from humming the song. Kirizu became thoughtful on the topic for a minute. She had been so tough to crack on the topic of her family before, but now...

"As far as I know, it's a family song. Passed down from my Mom's side of the family for generations from daughter to daughter. I don't know what the name of it is, but I guess...it's my lullaby. I used to always be able to get tired and sleep from humming it when I was little when Mom stopped humming it to me."

Asuna tried humming a little of it and Kirizu made a blatant act of falling asleep. Asuna giggled in response. Their relationship was innocent. They were still young. The furthest they'd gone in their relationship in a sense, was just sharing a bed. They kissed before going to sleep. They hugged often. They were very cuddly with each other. They didn't progress any further. They didn't need to. They had no urge to. They were so far satisfied with the depth of their relationship. In the future, they imagined they would arrive at a point they would be more intimate, but they were all the more patient with how close they allowed themselves to currently be.

Asuna finally managed to get a decent amount of her breakfast through before Kirizu continued their conversation.

"So...how is everyone really? We know Philia joined Beta, I'm curious about her a little. I'm also worried about Yuuki and Sachi. They were...well, they weren't doing well. There isn't really an easy other way to look at it."

Asuna smiled softly and took her final bite before taking in the question. When she was ready to answer, she wondered how accurately she could imagine Kirizu reacting. Normally, she would imagine Kirizu being exaggeratedly relieved, but while in her current condition, she wondered if it would be even closer to how Ana would act in being relieved. Happy with a calm smile on her face.

"Philia was doing very well this morning. I think that it might be because of something with Mom and Anabelle, but they were together a lot, and Philia has been opening up to the others a little bit. She looks a lot happier already."

Following through with the response from the current expectations, Kirizu smiled calmly and nodded her head showing her happiness. During that, the sound of the footsteps from Ana and Anabelle leaving the inn could be heard, and they paused from continuing.

"As far as Yuuki, I think it might have been withdrawn before, and it became worse somehow, but now she even looks different, having changed her look. She's very cute and looks more natural than she did before. She's become more close to Mom and Anabelle. She's so much happier, like what was troubling her before is just...gone."

Asuna's explanation...even she didn't know much about what really happened. She didn't know how much to say. Kirizu was somehow even more calm with hearing about the change with Yuuki. Kirizu really had been worried about Yuuki. From the moment she showed up at the first raid meeting, Yuuki had been a mysterious phenomena. It was nice to finally hear something more understanding about her. She was just another girl. A young girl, and she had been through a lot. Kirizu knew that much. She didn't need to know more.

"And Sachi...well, it's like...she seemed calm, finally. She was happy, and really enjoying breakfast for once this morning. She was still nervous talking to the others, but it was better than usual, like she were more used to talking to us all. She had been so quiet, I was worried about her too."

Kirizu started breathing more like she had fallen asleep. Asuna liked listening to the sound of Kirizu's breathing when she was asleep. It was such a soothing sound. She wondered if Kirizu did that with her, listening to her while she slept. Asuna smiled a little and giggled. She combed her fingers through Kirizu's hair and sighed in satisfaction. If only all of her days could be so relaxing.

Asuna was dreading the idea of returning to doing her classes as per normal after everything. She was hoping that when they would return out of the game, she would still be able to spend her time with Kirizu like she was. To spend her time with Anabelle and Ana as she had been in the game. There was a part of her which was worried something might tear her away from everyone who had become so important to her, but she did her best not to think about it.

Kirizu had clearly fallen asleep, and Asuna wasn't tired enough or lazy enough to just stay there all day, so as much as she could just continue to listen to Kirizu's breathing as she slept, she stood up and wondered about what she should do with her day.

Asuna left the room, closed and locked to any other than guild members, and she made her way out of the inn. Outside, it was a wonderful day yet again. The gently falling fake snow which never stuck and always fell was so calming, and the calm, quiet level of the streets with very few people around made her feel so relaxed, she thought she might as well return to the room and fall right asleep. She clapped her cheeks gently in a way to wake herself up.

After resolving herself to stay awake, Asuna decided to walk to the crafting district and see if she could find Ana and Anabelle there. Some days, they spent at the training grounds. Some days, they spent gathering materials. Other days, they spent their time at the crafting area. If she recalled, they had a lot of materials to work with, and it was very possible that they might be restocking the guild stall for selling items and making more money.

None of them had a good guess for how much it would cost for their guild home later on. Ana had mentioned that she planned to build one in a place if it was possible, to which everyone was either fully supportive, or they were shocked Ana would go that far with her crafting. Apparently housing and furnishings were part of later crafting, so it could be entirely possible. Plus, a place built by Ana, in a place where everyone agreed on would only feel even more like a home. It was a perfect idea in Asuna's opinion.

As Asuna grew closer to the crafting district, she could hear the clanging of the usual sound of the smithy shaping metals and never getting anywhere with it. There were a bunch of other sounds. It was a lively place, like somewhere pulled straight from real life, with real people living there.

Asuna and the others of Beta had to agree, that as the floors progressed, the NPCs seemed more and more intelligent. More...alive. It seemed like they could be just as alive as any of those trapped in the game considered a player. Quest givers already had a lot of charm to them and were incredibly interesting. It was staggering to think how much work went into getting everything to the level everything would seem more real as they would go. Perhaps it was a mechanic to make it more and more difficult to leave. To make it more difficult to distinguish which was really reality.

As Asuna neared the tailoring shop, the first of the major facilities Ana used, she noticed Ana, Anabelle and Sachi together, and Ana was working on some kind of new clothing with Sachi's main colour scheme. Asuna was very interested, but she wanted to talk and ask about it. She wanted to be more involved with them and be more than just an onlooker.

Asuna stepped into the tailoring shop, and Ana invited her over right away. Ana had only waved, and the NPC running the shop smiled warmly, motioning it was welcome for Asuna to enter to the back crafting area of the store.

The tailoring store was very interesting. There were all kinds of fabric pulls displayed on the walls, and there were outfits displayed on mannequins in the main area of the shop. It was messy in the back, with all sorts of equipment and such that Asuna didn't know the first thing about. What Ana was working on, and Sachi and Anabelle were watching closely the progress of the craft, was a navy blue tunic, slightly different from Sachi's normal colour for her equipment. Asuna wondered if the windows gave a disorienting effect since she thought the cloth was the exact same as Sachi normally wore.

The tunic that Ana was sewing together with a few different tools, into a very intricate and full web which made the cloth incredibly sturdy and fine, wasn't just a plain navy tunic. The bottom of the tunic was flared, and there were no sleeves. The shape of the tunic was also unique, like Asuna's battle dress. There was a pure white trimming lining the edges of the outfit. A silver embroidery double spear design based off of the shape of the spear she normally wielded adorned the sides of the tunic's shape, and the middle front and middle back were adorned at the bottom with a hunting bow shape. It was an incredible design. It was still amazing how Ana was able to design all of it without seeing it at all. Surely her imagination was limitless if she were working off of that while she worked.

The tunic was like Asuna's as far as the collar. A collar which could be left up, covering and protecting part of the neck, with a more loose promotion which reached down passed the shoulders so that it only revealed a comfortable amount of skin. That kind of tunic though...Asuna found the under clothing to that, a form fitting long sleeved shirt which reached to the wrists in a black colour. The colour scheme was nearly becoming more like Kirizu's. All of the under clothes were done and the last of the clothing being made was the tunic. Ana was just putting the finishing touches on, and the outfit from Asuna's eyes looked like it was a special occasion outfit or a date outfit. Asuna could just imagine Kirizu wearing the same outfit, and when it was on Sachi, Asuna realized one immediate difference. Sachi was more developed than Kirizu. Sachi looked good in it, but Kirizu would look more cute in it. Asuna was a little disappointed in herself over thinking about it like that when it was obviously something Sachi requested.

The outfit continued to be made and Asuna quietly observed. In the end, she found out it was Sachi's new main combat outfit, and that it went with her new main weapon, a bow. The rest of the day was spent at the training grounds, where Ana and Anabelle taught Sachi how to use the bow. Sachi was a little slow at learning it, but eventually, she seemed to be a natural.


	32. Chapter 32

~Large Guilds~

After some time of Beta's lack of large activity, some large groups managed to start taking form. Because of this, a lot of people started finding their place in Aincrad. Either it was because of the guilds offering different kinds of positions, or because it was possible to freeload off of the possibilities of so many other members.

The guilds which formed weren't truly strong. There were truly about a few who were decent at their performance out of those people who were serious about training, and they were unlikely to be noticed, lucky if they were.

There were also outcasts. People who ended up not in a guild because of the pressure of having a group to belong to. Some people just simply didn't feel the need of having a group to go to. Some people...also found their resolve, and by the New Year, some of the people of Laughing Coffin were directed out. Some people died because they couldn't keep a pace fast enough to escape the immortal reapers which went after the murderers.

Because of there being a lot of large guilds built up, there was a lot less courage from the still weak Laughing Coffin, because those people had been locked up for a certain amount of time, and they had a long time where they couldn't catch up. They were weak of mind and body. Well, most were. PoH was determined to crush Beta whatever the cost, because they were the lynchpin. If the people around Ana and herself were gone, then Laughing Coffin could freely build up and destroy the other guilds, who were full of people who were too afraid of fighting another person.

There were some exceptions to the case of being able or unable to fight others. Those people weren't far off from Laughing Coffin however. They were without a guild, and were essentially not tagged members of the guild.

There were many small groups dedicated to helping Laughing Coffin. People who had become happy with the situation in Aincrad, who were ready to fight to be able to stay in the game. People who weren't willing to fight to keep their sanity.

One particular small group of targets for these supporters of Laughing Coffin, were being hunted down over a special occurrence which allowed them something even Ana couldn't get the item for. Taming. Tamers were being hunted. For good or bad reasons, they were being hunted, and the most unfortunate part of this, is that the majority of those people were younger. Between a little younger than Anabelle, and around Yuuki's age. Those were the kind of people being targeted by those people.

However, the hunters weren't always going to be hunting so freely. Not with all of the larger guilds who had morals. Especially since Anabelle was determined to help the fellow young crowd in Aincrad. Because Ana wouldn't let Anabelle go on her own to hunt them, Anabelle putting herself too much at risk for recklessly charging toward people willing to kill.

Other guilds followed Anabelle's reckless charge against the hunting groups, searching out to get rid of the people who were determined to kill off innocent people.

Currently, Anabelle chased after a group dead-set on killing a girl closer to Yuuki's age who had a rare pet. The blue feathered dragon and the girl did nothing wrong, yet those people still decided that just because the creature became her pet, she needed to be killed.

Anabelle was incredibly fast, but not as fast as her mother of course. Ana wouldn't let Anabelle put herself at too much risk, so when they were finally close enough to close the gap, Ana used the sonic leap skill to flash ahead of them with the burst of speed with her sword. She immediately sheathed her blade, and from in front of them, she provided quite the frightening wall. Even if Beta weren't such big news recently, nobody would forget about the blind woman who locked up all of Laughing Coffin in a night and many of those prisoners died to their lack of intelligence.

The hunters froze at the sight of her, but the woman of the group with ruby red hair glared like a viper at Ana, as if she had some reason for being able to cast an intimidating aura. She was a taller woman, about half a foot taller than Ana. She was a considerably proportioned woman. The type of physique which on average was most idolized. The men around her were...well, disgusting was one word, but they weren't weak. Eight in their group, and all of them had frozen, but the woman still figured they were fine to deal with Ana, with there being eight of them. After all, their levels were at least close to Anabelle's.

Worse, those people turned their attention on Anabelle. Three of the group charged at her with the thought that they might be able to catch her and use her as a hostage to get out of the situation. The woman of the group grew furious at them, but it was more for the most obvious result. Anabelle didn't even use her bow or daggers. She didn't use a single weapon, and she moved around in a flurry, crushing their knees from the opposite bend, flipping them to the ground and pulverizing their pelvic regions with her heels...a technique she learned from the telling of Ana's Shibuya experience. Those men who went after her were given a crippled condition. They wouldn't be able to move for eighteen hours with the broken limbs. Removal of limbs was a twenty four hour cool down until the limb would return. Either way, it was going to be difficult to recover to a normal capacity for moving.

The remaining men with the woman charged at Ana. She didn't move...until they closed in on her location, slashing down their weapons.

This all happened in an alley of an outskirt town on the eighth floor. The girl with the pet sat staring with tears rolling out of her eyes with tremendous fear at the situation in front of her. With how brutally the hunters were dealt with by Anabelle, was she going to be safe?

When Ana vanished and the weapons of those hunters touched down on the ground producing a recoil effect from striking an immortal object within Aincrad, the road beneath them, then returned to a standing position only to return to their heads being bashed together in a constricting net that Ana set from a tree branch overhanging the alley. She had set it up without anyone noticing during the standoff. The girl with the pet was able to notice it, but she was also terrified what such a thing was going to be used for.

"Sadly, you're not all orange yet. Mama can send you all to prison anyway. What do you say to our tamer friend?"

Anabelle's words were sharp with her anger toward the disgusting people who would hunt children. Ana heaved the group of five up with her net, tumbling their heads about in there and causing quite the amount of damage. The effect gave all of them orange markers.

"If you don't say the proper words in this situation, you're going to regret it~!"

Anabelle teased the notion to them. A few of the men, including one of the men Anabelle had dealt with, started begging and apologizing. The apology was the right answer.

"Well, someone got it. Here's your trip to prison."

Anabelle pulled her prison porting crystal from her inventory and activated it, sending all of the orange players to the prison. The tamer with her pet blinked at the situation in front of her again, and she was surprised how safe she felt. There was no danger coming from the mother and daughter in front of her. Anabelle was adorable, instead of frightening compared to the brutality she had committed in...defeating the men she fought before. Ana was soothing in her presence alone, giving the tamer a sense of ease and comfort.

The tamer stood up, brushed the dirt from herself, feeling a little embarrassed when the dirt disappeared because of settings when she was no longer sitting on the ground, and she faced Ana and Anabelle. She bowed a little, and the small blue feathered dragon sat on her head, also making a bowing gesture.

"Th-thank you...! For saving us...! For saving...me...and Pina."

Anabelle walked up past Ana and up to the tamer, friendly and ready to help her back up to her feet. The name above the tamer's head, was Silica. She was very dissheveled. Her hair had one hair tie in on her left side and it was very loose, likely to fall out at any moment. Her outfit wasn't on all the way, her tunic not even pulled over her shoulders and her boots weren't on all the way. Ana had to admit it was impressive for her to run away from the hunters much at all in that condition. Ana and Anabelle had been quick to start helping her though, so Silica seemed fine enough.

"You might want to fix your clothes."

Anabelle pointed it out and Silica was flustered, immediately starting to try and fix her clothes by hand instead of using her menu interface to fix her appearance. She fell back to her bottom and Pina flew up, trying not to be accidentally underneath Silica when she fell. Silica was beat red in her embarrassment.

"No need to be in such a rush. How about this? Mama, you still have some extra tunics from making Sachi's new uniform right? If Silica puts it on through the inventory it'll fix up her appearance right away, right?"

Ana sighed and waited for Silica to give the sign she was willing to be helped like that. There was the sign of tears about ready to start falling, but Silica was stubborn. She turned away from Ana and Anabelle, and she started taking her time, pulling her clothes into place one by one, giving up on having her hair tied up at all with the red bubble hair tie she had.

Silica finally returned to her feet and faced Ana and Anabelle. She stood a few inches taller than Anabelle, so she was still a little shorter than Yuuki. She had light brown hair which looked better down than pulled up into what seemed to be twin tails as her aim before.

Silica wore black long stockings with short boots, a long red tunic dress with little leather armour and she had a breastplate covering most of her defences. The outfit really didn't suit her. Some could say that it was cute, but it really just looked to Anabelle that Silica was trying to look more adult with her armour. In comparison, Anabelle didn't have the metal armour, and her outfit was basically a smaller version of Ana's armour. Well, she didn't totally forgo the metal armour. She had some metal armour enhancing the defence of her boots and her gloves.

"Thank you...again. For saving us."

Pina landed on her shoulder this time, and Silica bowed forward a little again. This time, she didn't appear so dissheveled. Anabelle smiled and she was about to turn around. Silica had something to say to Anabelle though.

"Uhm...Anabelle? You really shouldn't be so rough-"

Anabelle turned around and gave Silica a questioning look. Anabelle might have been the youngest person in the alley there, but she was definitely the more experienced in Aincrad compared to Silica.

"So rough? With those people who were about to kill you? Mama was the person to send Laughing Coffin to prison a month ago! I'm hardly rough compared to that. Plus, those people need to learn their lesson. Sometimes people don't learn until they get hurt for doing something they shouldn't."

Silica couldn't argue, and she was nervous to talk further. A text window appeared in front of Silica.

"We're saving people who are being hunted by the Laughing Coffin supporters. We have a lot of people letting us know where these hunters are, so for now while we don't have news of another person being hunted, why don't you join us for lunch?"

It was going to be lunch time soon, and Ana always had some extra food on her. Inviting Silica along and letting Anabelle try and remedy Silica's impression of her was something Ana gave thought to. Silica seemed nervous to accept, but she had a question that regarded the invitation.

"Can I have something for Pina too? I haven't been able to find anything Pina likes for food."

Ana nodded her head, and turned around, to start leading the way to a safe place, where there was an outdoor picnicking kind of area. There was a small park just outside of the outskirt town's limits with a few trees, one with a wooden swing set and a few large picnic tables. It was quite a nice atmosphere...but really didn't suit with the slushy snow all over the place.

When the three sat down at the table, Ana set out a meal for Silica first, a large mug of soup, and a small plate of fruits in the centre. After that, she set down Anabelle and her own mugs of soup. The soup of the day was a mushroom cream soup with some pulled boar meat which was well mixed in. Ana thought for a moment that she really should be encouraging more vegetable consumption with the current meal. Silica already started drinking from her soup mug, and Pina had already grabbed up a few of the grapes from the plate of fruits in the centre.

"Wow, you must have really been hungry."

Anabelle's statement earned a sigh of satisfaction and an explanation from Silica.

"I haven't had anything to eat since last night, since those people chased me before I could get to the bakery and get my bread for this morning. Plus, I haven't had this good tasting food I've heard about yet. I know there are recipes, but...I don't know how to cook."

Silica drank another mouthful of the soup and sighed again. She looked at Pina and smiled.

"And now Pina's finally eating something. I'm so happy."

Ana noticed then that there was no name on the pet. There was an option for a tamer to name their pet, and it seemed that Silica hadn't figured it out yet.

"Pina is a nice name. Did the inspiration come from somewhere?"

Silica seemed bothered by the text windows from Ana. She wasn't just going to change her way of talking to others so easily. Either way, Silica answered.

"Pina is also the name of my cat outside. He's really cute. A ginger cat who's really fluffy with lighter stripes along his back."

Ana nodded her head and Anabelle began to imagine it. Both tried to imagine, but they were interrupted by Ana's further thought about Pina, why the name hadn't been set yet.

"You have yet to set Pina as the name to your feathery dragon. Just a heads up."

Ana mentioned it to Silica and she checked in surprise. She hurriedly set Pina's name and sighed.

"I can't believe I hadn't done that yet..."

Anabelle giggled. She was about to follow it up with something else, but Ana caught on that whatever she was about to say, would only make it more difficult for Anabelle to get along with Silica.

"It's alright. Perhaps you'd like some help with organizing yourself? Do you have any trouble with organizing your inventory for example?"

Silica blushed again. She sighed and Ana smiled in response.

"It's alright. We can help you out. In fact, I might be able to provide some easier to wear equipment since you seemed to have some trouble with your own before. Plus, it would be stronger and more protective than the equipment you currently have. Plus, having gear made by me might deter those hunter types from going after you again."

Silica was surprised at how generous Ana was being. She wasn't as bothered by her lack of talking after reading how she was offering to help her.

"I would appreciate any help..."

Silica bowed again, before finishing the soup in her mug. She sighed in the satisfaction she felt as the warm soup felt to warm her up despite the cold function within the game being so minimal.

Ana stood up after finishing her soup, and Anabelle followed the lead. Ana motioned for Silica and Pina to follow, and she sent another message while she led the way back to the town they were near, bringing them to the crafting district.

"Would it be a secret as to where you found Pina? Or how you tamed him?"

Silica wasn't secretive about how she met Pina.

"I met Pina in a forest on a lower floor. I can't remember where I found him in the forest, but he was there, and he was hurt. I used some bandages I usually carry for healing myself to heal him and he stayed with me ever since."

Ana nodded her head. She had been curious about the pet system. There were the crafting items she would be able to make later for taming, but there seemed to be other methods depending on situation. It seemed those conditions were starting to occur lately.

When Ana led them into the tailor shop, she sent Silica another message.

"Do you have a favourite colour to wear?"

Silica was caught a little off guard. She looked at the clothing Ana and Anabelle were wearing. For the most part, Ana and Anabelle were wearing white. White, silver, and there was some light pink in some designs on Anabelle's outfit.

Silica thought about it, and she really liked the idea of matching with Pina, maybe with a darker blue. Having some flare hanging behind her like Pina's tail. She also liked the idea of working her hair again...which reminded her that she had lost her one hair tie while running away from the hunters before.

Silica had a difficult time explaining it, but she was able to get the point across to Ana. She got to work on the clothing of the outfit. All under clothing was made quickly. Using a black for the under clothing seemed to be the idea with Silica, and then Ana incorporated some small dragon designs into the under shirt and the outer sides of the stockings. Also along the outer side of the cloth gloves which reached to the elbows. The tunic Ana worked on after the under clothing was a royal blue in colour, with a bright gold trim, some light blue accents with the collar and she added the coattails to the back end of the tunic, the front and sides more matching to Sachi's tunic design. She also made a skirt which would be adorned with metal fittings for protection when Ana would get to that point The skirt was in the light blue colour. The light blue according to Anabelle, matched with the colour of Pina's feathers.

Ana had Silica try on the new clothes, putting them on as per normal considering out of the game, having far less trouble getting her new clothes on. The design really suited her. All that was left was the additions. Silica was very happy with the design and feel of the outfit.

"Wow! It's really cute and matches really nice with Pina!"

Anabelle complimented the outfit right away. Silica was weak to being complimented, it seemed. She blushed and turned away from Anabelle after hearing the compliment.

"Are you happy with it, Silica?"

The question on whether the outfit was confirmed from Ana caught Silica off guard and she couldn't hold back.

"Of course I like it!"

Silica's enthusiasm about the outfit earned a smile from Anabelle, and Ana was satisfied. Ana didn't drag out the answer, while it seemed Anabelle was hoping for such a thing. Ana led the way out of the tailoring NPC shop, and to the leather working shop to get her affixed with some good sub gear for holding the metal together. While Ana worked on the leather, she sent Silica a message asking about her preferred style of fighting.

"How do you feel about your current fighting style? Is the dagger fine? Or are you the type to stay a little more behind during battle and support?"

Ana could easily make guesses and assume that Silica would be better suited to ranged combat, considering the great feeling of inexperience from Silica. Silica was not really meant for battle. Ana could also measure from Pina that it would be better for Silica and Pina to work as a support unit from a distance instead of being in the heat of battle. It was an accident looking to happen if either of them were too slow to dodge an attack from close range, so giving them some distance from enemies was only natural. The way that Ana was designing the armour for Silica, was on the assumption of being a support, not engaging close on the enemies. So, the equipment would support her movements and make it easier and lighter for her to move around instead of being encumbered.

"Uhm..."

Silica was nervous about answering that question. The feeling Ana got from her on the hesitation, was that Silica wasn't really the combat type of person at all. After all, even though the hunters had been intending to kill her before, she criticized Anabelle's punishing them before sending them to the prison. Yes, Silica was definitely a more gentle, non battling type. So, either giving her a bow and letting her stay at range and provide support, or just stay enough within range that Pina's abilities could support any people she might team up with. Or, she could just not go into battle at all. It could be considered a waste of the new equipment Ana was making, but it wouldn't really matter.

"I...am too afraid of battling..."

Silica was very honest when it came down to giving a straight answer.

Ana nodded her head, and continued on the path of making archery leather bound gear. Gloves to support holding the bow, boots, and the base leather chest guard. All of the leather armours would be adorned lightly with metal.

With the leather completed, Ana only had Silica try it on to check if it fit, before taking it back and waiting until she would make the metal part of the armour. The leather without the metal armour would look silly to wear after all.

"The clothing would be fine to wear on their own, but if you ever go out into a dangerous area where there are monsters, I suggest that you use the menu to equip this armour. Otherwise you might have a difficult time putting it on like your previous gear. Your previous set was basic from the game rewarding you for a quest, so everything was together in a single piece, making it more difficult than normal clothes to put on. When it's properly crafted, everything is in its individual pieces, making it easier to wear the clothing like normal, and then you could just equip the armour over top with the menu. I'll make you a bow at the carpentry station before we go to the smithy. This will help you if you ever come across enemies, and the bow is a very powerful weapon. Just shoot a few times at any monster below floor ten with a bow from my crafting, and you should be fine. If you'd like, Anabelle and I could teach you how to use the bow so that you can take care of yourself."

Before leaving the leather working station, Silica finished reading the message from Ana, startled by how generous Ana was being.

"A bow?!"

Ana nodded her head.

"Even without the skill tree unlocked, it's very possible to wield the bow with your own ability and unlock it on your own from your own habits and movements in situations against enemies. If you aren't used to using a bow at all, that's why I'm offering lessons on how to use the bow."

Ana continued on, and the carpentry station was the next door over, so she got started at working on it right away. Ana already had a lot of extra metal fittings ready for strengthening the front of a bow, so she was able to put together the new short bow very quickly. Fast enough Silica didn't have the time to reject the offer of the bow.

Ana handed it over to Silica, walking past her after handing the bow over to her, and continuing toward the smithy. Silica didn't have the courage to tell Ana how she felt about being given so much. Silica felt that Ana was being far too generous. Ana continued on and forged the armour for Silica. After putting the armour together, Ana handed the complete set over to Silica.

"Try it on through the menu. Tell me if I need to adjust it."

Silica was in obeying mode, it seemed, as she put on the armour with no complaints. The armour was a little snug, but it was also very comfortable, and made the cloth more enjoyable. Silica couldn't believe how good it felt to wear clothing in the game. It was beyond the quality she normally wore for her clothing outside of the game. The designs weren't nearly the same as her usual clothing, but just as cute and it really made her feel safe altogether.

"It feels so good..."

Silica couldn't hold back her satisfaction at how the equipment felt.

"Now then, how about we get you some training with the bow? Even if you don't plan to fight, it's better to be prepared than not."

Silica sighed and continued to follow along. When Ana led them to the teleport plaza and up to the tenth floor, Silica became nervous. She wasn't nervous for the usual reason. Usually, she would be nervous of the people around her. She would be nervous of the stares of men, but with Ana and Anabelle, those kind of looks were more directed toward them. Silica was nervous because the weight of who she was with really weighed down on her. She remembered that the people she was with were from the famous guild, Beta. The leader and her daughter. As brutal as Anabelle had been before, Silica didn't really have any place to argue against her acting as she had before. She realized that with the gazes that were falling on them. There weren't a lot of people, but the people who did watch the group were nearly every player present in the area.

Silica tried to listen to the sound of some people who were chatting while concentrating on Ana, Anabelle and Silica.

"Hey, you think she's another of Beta's recruits?"

"Maybe. Beta hasn't been very active lately."

Silica realized the possibility. It was very possible that Ana was trying to recruit her. Why else would she go through the trouble of making all of the equipment for Silica, and even train her in how to use a bow?

The group arrived at the training ground. Usually, the training grounds weren't used much. Philia was practising there though, using the extra longbow she had been made as a secondary weapon. Philia waved at the trio, and noticed Silica.

"No guild tag? Ah, probably just another kid you're helping again then."

It had been a few days since Ana had trained Philia, and since then, the hunting had begun. Ana and Anabelle had already saved a few of the tamers, and the usual ending with those who Ana trained in using the bow, or whatever else they decided to use, was that they would thank her and try to pay her back, but unless they were willing to join the guild and fight to clear the game with Beta, there was nothing more. Just adding each other to the friends list and doing their own thing from there.

Silica was confused, as she hadn't heard anything about how Beta had been doing since before Christmas. Apparently there were some new members, and she hadn't heard of Philia. When Silica saw the tag for Beta beside Philia's name, the answer to whether Beta had new members or not was obvious.

"Same as usual. If she decides she'd like to join us and work toward clearing the game together, the invitation is open. Otherwise, it just feels better letting her go back to her routine more prepared than she was."

Ana didn't hide the contents of the reply, using a general text window which appeared above her name and guild tag to anyone who wanted in on the conversation. Silica felt a lot of pressure. She didn't know if it was pressure to join them, or if it was pressure just from how strong the people around her were. Anabelle was already incredibly strong. Ana was famous for her strength. She didn't know about Philia, but as Philia continued her training with another shot which pierced the target cleanly, the pressure became clear.

"Well, get ready with your bow. I'll teach you how to hold it, how to maintain it and string it, and how to fire it. If you want more training than the basics, joining the guild is the barrier there."

Ana drew her bow, an impressive, large bow which didn't look much like a bow. She was famed for being blind, but also for being beyond incredible. It was already so difficult to believe she was able to design and craft Silica's new equipment, let alone fire an arrow. Ana readied an arrow, and when she unleashed it, the arrow disappeared. It moved fast enough, that Silica didn't know where to look. When she looked at the target where the arrow had been pointed, the target was broken, and regenerating. A large hole made in the centre.

Silica's eyes widened and she looked at the bow in her hands. Was the bow in her hands capable of that much destructive force? It was terrifying.

"That's just an example of how strong Mama's bow is. It's made of very heavy and strong materials she doesn't use for anyone else. It's not much of a bow really. Don't look so afraid. We'll teach you how to use your bow, and it'll be normal like Philia's shooting."

Silica looked to the target where Philia's arrows hit. Indeed, they were normal.


	33. Chapter 33

~Main Support~

Leafa and Sinon were growing more and more bored every day from collecting materials and ingredients and trying to catch up to Ana's level. They were her main support when going out as a guild for a large battle, so they figured they should be the closest to Ana in levels. The levels were so difficult to gain though at their point. It was simply because of Ana being so invested into the crafting, that everyone else fell so far behind. Eight levels. That was how far a distance there was between the regular level of Beta. Then, there was the new additions to Beta, who would level up quite quickly. Sadly, combat experience stops at a certain point. They were locked at that point. They could train and train, but they couldn't gain any experience to gain levels and catch up. The only reasons for going out and fighting monsters on the floor, was to keep up their ability, and to keep a steady amount of materials for the rest of the guild to use.

Leafa and Sinon returned to the town on the tenth floor, expecting to just head to the inn with the people from their guild mates at the training ground as per the ritual the last few days, but when they arrived at the training ground, they were surprised to see a new person wearing the guild tag next to their name. Silica. She was diligently firing one arrow after another with near perfect form. After ten arrows, she would move her bow to her back and draw her dagger from her hip and she would block any attacks from Anabelle that were aimed at her, no matter where they were aimed. It was extremely impressive. From first look with her hair bouncing around, she looked as if she were just a little short, instead of young. What was more surprising, was that if Silica missed blocking an attack, there was a small light blue feathered dragon who used healing magic to maintain her health.

"That's fifteen minutes!"

The time call from Philia seemed to end the training session. Silica dropped to her knees and heaved many heavy breaths. Thankfully, the sweat from the training dried away from the clothing near immediately. Silica really did train hard. She wanted to really repay Ana. She wanted to show that she could earn the equipment that was given to her. She was still using her flimsy and weak dagger she'd had before, but she only added it to her training because Anabelle had taunted her into using it. Adding the dagger training to her program.

Silica had been so afraid and nervous in the beginning. She was a mess. After a little training though, she became stubborn and decided on proving she was worth the training. She made drastic improvements, and her nervousness faded away. Especially the more she trained with the dagger against Anabelle. She wanted to show Anabelle that she was capable and strong, so that she wouldn't feel bad about lecturing her about being so brutal like she had before with the hunters who were after Silica.

The two youngest members of the guild, Anabelle and Silica, fell to their backs and rested after their heavy training. They were exhausted.

"You really should have held back on her, Anabelle. Both of you look so tired. Will you even be able to have dinner?"

Philia's question to them was concerned. However concerned she was, the mention of dinner perked both of them up immediately and they shot back to their feet. Philia laughed, and Ana smiled. A text window appeared above Ana, telling everyone in the training ground it was time to go back to the inn together.

When Anabelle, Silica and Philia saw the message, Anabelle and Philia looked up to the entrance of the training ground, and Silica followed their look. Leafa and Sinon were standing there, still surprised from seeing how impressive their new addition to the guild was. It didn't matter that she didn't have a good dagger at the moment. Ana would remedy that very quickly. It didn't matter that her level was low. She would catch up to Beta in no time with the routine for levelling up the yet to catch up. The mornings were experience grinding time, and Leafa and Sinon led that charge. They were usually the first people the rest of the guild got to know aside Ana. It put a lot of pressure on them to make a good impression.

Ana as usual walked up to them and waited for them to walk with her. Ana could be visibly seen as exhausted from pushing herself with her anxiety. She did it every day. It wasn't so bad if it was just her and Anabelle. Or them and another person or two. It wasn't even bad when it was Ana, Anabelle, Leafa and Sinon. It was when there were more people. People that Ana hadn't had the time to get used to were the biggest trigger. Anabelle was confirmed to not seem to count. Anabelle was perfectly fine to be around, and felt as comfortable to be around as Ryra. Otherwise, there were others who fit that role better than Leafa and Sinon.

Leafa and Sinon were bothered by the idea that they were still the main supports for Ana in large battles. When Asuna, Kirizu, Yuuki and Sachi were more comfortable to Ana than they were, how were they supposed to take that when being part of her support during a big battle? Regardless, their role was mostly, if not completely just to add more damage and avoid being hit by cleaves. They didn't really have the opportunity to fill the role of support. They didn't need to heal Ana. They didn't need to do any calls for her. Going with Ana for them, was just outputting crazy amounts of damage.

The members of Beta returned to the inn, and Agil and Lisbeth waited in the restaurant for them. Upon entering the inn, Ana hurried along to the kitchen to begin working on dinner. Hurrying mostly to escape the number of people. Asuna was already in the kitchen, tired. Anabelle followed Ana into the kitchen, still somewhat taking lessons on how to cook from her mother.

"How was today? I noticed a new name added to the guild."

Asuna's voice was very tired. Recently, she spent most of her day with Kirizu. Because Kirizu was still stuck in the bed from the after effects of the surgery, it wasn't a very eventful day for either of them. There really wasn't much to do within the game. Asuna wanted to ask and request if it were possible for Ana to make them some kind of small game they could play such as shogi or chess, but she didn't want to impose on Ana, when she knew after asking why Ana was tired that Ana's days were ridiculously full regardless of how much she filled it with recruiting or doing some of the chores that had included the guild, such as saving tamers from the hunters.

"Today was very busy again. How is Kirizu doing? Tomorrow is the last day that she needs to stay in bed for, so I assume today you were both very excited. I can't imagine you being so exhausted otherwise."

Asuna smiled and started grinding some ingredients to powder.

"I'm more exhausted from not doing much. Kirizu and I could talk for hours and hours, but it's still not getting the exercise we need, and my last day I got the kind of exercise I needed was when you were making Sachi's new equipment."

Asuna held back from mentioning the possibility of having other things to do. It really was too selfish and needy of her to think of adding something else to Ana's responsibilities.

"Hmm...well, if you need something to keep yourself busy, how about a little skill testing game? I put together this thing before Christmas intending to give it to someone who seemed to need it, but I forgot about it. Plus, it seemed until now nobody really had a need for something to while away the time with. I should have thought of it sooner. If you'd brought up how tired you were getting from not moving around so much, I would have given it to you sooner."

Ana stopped setting out ingredients to work on, and pulled the skill test mini game from her inventory, handing it to Asuna.

"Essentially, the game is kind of like a small strategy game, which also requires speed. If you don't move the different pieces into the best solution possible fast enough, the game will reset. It's like trying to play shogi, but you're solving a new situation every time. Of course that means that the situation can't really be totally new every time. It's a reaction speed and thought process test, and I learned about such a thing being fun. It's difficult to do while being blind thought."

Asuna stared at the little wooden board which had an enchantment which changed where the different symbols for each shogi piece were every ten seconds. Tears welled in her eyes, and she put it into her inventory before grabbing Ana in a hug.

"Thank you, Mom."

Ana pet her head a little, and they eventually let go, returning to working on dinner.

"Ah, and Silica is doing very well. She was training in the dagger with Anabelle earlier as well as on the bow. She's a natural. She was very nervous at first, but she quickly became competitive with Anabelle. Anabelle's as non competitive as I am, but she still managed to make Silica feel competitive. For Anabelle, it was just training."

Asuna smiled in return to hearing about the situation there.

"What else is she like?"

Ana smiled and sighed.

"Silica is...she's like a young big sister type. Or the pet owner type. Then again, she does have the pet feathery dragon, named after her cat outside of the game. Pina is going to be a very valuable helper to Silica in the future, with its ability to debuff her enemies and buff her, even heal her. She tried scolding Anabelle earlier, but it ended up just being the first stepping stone in being more competitive toward Anabelle."

Asuna giggled toward the imagination of how that must have happened. She tried to imagine it. When she tried to imagine it, it ended rather quickly because of her lack in knowing what Silica looked like. She decided she would make up her mind more on Silica after seeing her.

Dinner was made in what felt like no time at all to them, and when Asuna and Ana went out to the restaurant area, Ana bolted around distributing the plates she held and stored in her inventory quickly. After putting the dishes down, she met with Anabelle at the stairs, and headed up as per the usual recently. It made it much easier for Ana to eat dinner with a smaller presence around her, and only having Anabelle or the others who had become so easy to be around was extremely calming to her.

After dinner, Ana and Anabelle were about ready to snuggle for a while, when a knock at their door stopped them from falling back into the bed. Ana answered the door, to find that Leafa stood on the other side of the door, with a concerned expression on her face, and she was in her comfort wear. After stepping aside to let her in, Leafa shuffled in quickly. Ana closed the door behind her and returned beside Anabelle on the bed, readying herself for whatever Leafa was going to say.

"Ana, Sinon wasn't comfortable with bringing it up since you've helped everyone so much, but we're getting tired. Of fighting those monsters every morning. Of gathering all day every day. Of...well, nothing really changing. I know we have to wait for others to catch up to us to be ready for progressing further, but isn't there more we can do? Something different and less repetitive?"

Ana took a deep breath and sighed. She didn't have an easy answer for Leafa. If she were willing to delegate the work of some crafting to others in the guild, then there was definitely something. Unfortunately, there was a lack of catching up to her even from Lisbeth with her crafting for weapons.

"There...isn't much I can think of. Unless it's just training more with the newer members of the guild to bring up their level, there's not much I can think of. If you want a break from gathering, that's also perfectly fine. Aside maybe making more of this little game I gave to Asuna before, there really isn't much I can think of."

Ana was surprised at how at a loss she was to think of useful or good ways to spend time there were for the people around her. She could also just say do more kendo training for Leafa and Sinon, but they already did their daily kendo training. There was little use in having them do more.

"Tell me things you like to do outside of the game."

When Ana said that in her whisper, Leafa was caught completely off guard. She contemplated how Ana had answered her before with the text window regarding what Ana suggested for how to spend the day.

"Hmm...well, I used to like trying to learn how to cook so I could take care of onee-chan. I had some friends from school I used to hang around with before onee-chan and Sinon moved in. Kendo was fun. Really, I guess I'm looking most forward to onee-chan moving around again so I can see her and spend time with her, but...she spends all of her time with Asuna lately anyway..."

Ana sighed a little and Anabelle giggled.

"Well, why don't you just spend time with Kirizunee-chan anyway? I'm sure onee-chan would be happy to have more company. Plus, you'd be with Kirizunee-chan like you want to be."

Anabelle was talking about it as if it would be easy. What made it troublesome, was that she looked at it from a logical perspective. Not an emotional perspective. Emotionally, it was very difficult for Leafa to be around Kirizu when her and Asuna would be overly close with each other. It was emotionally draining just to think of being with them together.

"I could teach you how to cook and it would be nice to have another pair of hands in the kitchen. It still doesn't tell me how to help Sinon with her part of this. A lot of the repetitive nature of this experience would be so much easier if I could only...wait."

Ana started a connection with Ryra. Ryra was yawning on the other end of the call when she answered. She blinked a few times with heavy eyelids.

"Maybe not such a good time?"

Ryra nestled her head in her arms on the desk in front of her and answered Ana.

"Go ahead. If you want me to do something though, it'll have to wait until after my nap. Those trouble makers with Laughing Coffin have racked up the number of losses on this end and it's incredibly stressful. So tired..."

Ana sighed and decided to tell Ryra her idea anyway.

"How possible would it be to have the school lessons for the students in our guild sent to them daily? I'll put up the update in names right now in a message you can go over when you're more awake. It'll make it easier for them to keep up with their lessons when we clear the game, and it'll give them something else to do instead of getting caught in the boredom that can come with getting stuck in progression."

Ryra yawned again and hummed.

"Should be fine. It'll just be a little more difficult to keep the news controlled on how many can be in contact with our side. We're talking that Asuna's family has to have their chance to talk to her. You'll have to talk to her and check if she's ready for that if we're going to proceed with the school thing. I could set it up for an automatic feed through online lessons after confirming with their schools."

Ana sighed and thought about it. She was concerned about letting a conversation happen between Asuna and her parents. It wasn't a good feeling she had at the thought of Asuna having to meet with her parents. Ana had heard much about Asuna's experiences with her family. Worse, it sounded that the topic of her being married off had been brought up in the past many times. Ana could only hope that Asuna's parents were ready to let go of her.

"I'll talk to Asuna about it before bed tonight."

Leafa stared at Ana while Ana had the call. The thought of doing her school lessons while being stuck inside of the game...it was strange. It was something to do though, and it would be better than mostly the same thing every day. The thing she wondered about more still, was the mention of the small game Ana had made for Asuna before.

The call ended after their usual closing to conversations. There was a softness to the atmosphere in the room, and the source was Ana. Of course she would be feeling soft after listening to Ryra's voice. She was also that way listening to Anabelle, but it wasn't as obvious as it was with Ryra.

"Well, what do you think?"

Ana's sudden question to Leafa caught her off guard. She had almost forgotten they were having a conversation. Leafa realized with a little more thought. Her and Sinon had the closest to normal experiences within Aincrad, and Ana spoke of bringing in school lessons. The only difference would be the lack of a classroom, or the lack of her usual classmates, but then she had a lot of other students with her in Beta. There were only two adults in the group, and they were Agil and Ana. Both were very impressive adults who seemed they might be even better at teaching than her regular teachers. At least, Ana definitely seemed that way.

Leafa sighed and smiled at Ana.

"I guess you just reminded me how little different it is here from outside. Kirizu and Sinon are here with me, and we usually go to school together. I'm a year younger, but we studied together...kind of. Plus, if you teach us, of course we'll learn really fast. Not sure how I feel having school again without some of my other classmates, but it'll be better than the same fighting every day."

Ana nodded her head and smiled.

"Well, if you're happy with this, then I'm going to go over and talk to Kirizu and Asuna about this talk with Asuna's parents. Hopefully it'll be the last about her original parents."

Ana's tone was very serious when referring to Asuna's birth parents. Leafa noticed that it was the very same serious expression Ana wore when she was serious over being protective of Anabelle. Ana had definitely become that motherly toward Asuna, and everyone had become used to it. Especially with how Asuna referred to Ana as her mother.

"Thank you. Tell Kirizu that Sinon and myself say good night, and we're looking forward to her showing up for breakfast. And...what time should I set my alarm for, to join and help with making breakfast?"

Ana chuckled softly and nodded her head.

"We're usually up around five thirty in the morning in the kitchen, so that should be fine. A few minutes later is also fine. We work on making meals for the day for everyone for that half hour, so one other set of hands will only speed up the process. If you want to learn more, come to the kitchen right after waking up."

Leafa nodded her head with a happy hum. She returned to the main room she shared with most of the other girls of the guild. After Leafa left, Ana tucked Anabelle in and told her she could go to sleep early if she was tired. Anabelle nodded and set herself to sleep.

Ana left the room, and went to visit Asuna in her room with Kirizu. There, Asuna answered the door right away, and smiled when she saw that it was Ana visiting. With the door closed behind, Asuna and Kirizu instantly felt the serious atmosphere Ana had brought with her.

"How are you doing, Kirizu?"

Kirizu nodded her head with a smile.

"Better than I was. Eager to be on my feet in the morning."

Ana smiled back for a moment, but returned to the serious mood.

"You just need to remember that you need to ease back into your routines after this. Even if we're in a game, you would know better than anyone else how much outside effects in here. You can join us in the kitchen, but you won't join in the cooking until you're completely ready."

After confirming with Kirizu, Ana turned her attention to Asuna.

"How do you feel about the idea of talking with your birth parents?"

Asuna was startled by the topic.

"I...I'd rather not..."

Ana nodded her head in understanding. Of course Asuna wouldn't want to talk to her birth parents. She finally had peace and freedom to choose her future for herself. The very prospect of talking with her parents must seem like a threat that they might take control of her life again.

"How do you feel about having your school lessons while in here?"

The strange follow up question also caught Asuna off guard.

"I...think it might be a good idea."

The situation was laid out, and Asuna had to decide. Forfeit school for everyone, or talk.


	34. Chapter 34

~Gathering of the Guilds~

Another two weeks passed, and it was now into the new year. Everyone in Beta were at their maximum level as far as their combat experience gain, though not all were prepared for the raid. If all of them were, they would make up nearly half of the entire raid group.

As far as other events which occurred between the last member joining Beta and the point that two other guilds had approached Beta about forming a raid team, Asuna had made up her mind, and she was waiting for her parents to both have a good time in their schedule to have a conversation with her, under the condition that Asuna, Kirizu, Ana and Anabelle be present on her side of the conversation, and Ryra be present with her parents on the other side of the conversation. Asuna wanted to have the support and protection that those people offered her for the conversation so she wouldn't have to face the fear of her parents alone.

Kirizu managed to make a full recovery within the game, and she was being fed a little stronger in reality with the IV to make up for some of the blood loss so that she would regain her full strength sooner rather than later. The extra feeding would only last so long however. Just until Kirizu was finished recovering from her surgery.

Sachi was decided on being part of the raid team, along with Silica and Philia as one full party together. The three of them made up a full support team within the raid composition, with Philia being a backup tank if the need would arise. She had developed well in the use of her sword after all.

As far as other teams made up by members of Beta, they had also been changed around. Leafa and Sinon were together with Yuuki as their tank role, as per the previous team up with a full raid. Kirizu, Asuna and Lisbeth were put together for the off-tanking team. Kirizu was still a little behind on her strength, so she had to off tank. Otherwise, she would have been more suited to main tanking with Yuuki's falling back onto dual wielding her tachi. Agil was decided to stay back from the raid with Ana and Anabelle.

The gathering of the guilds was happening at the training grounds of the tenth floor. The only two people not present from Beta's end of the meeting, were Ana and Anabelle. Ana was still part of the meeting, as the leader of Beta. However, because of her anxiety, she had to speak through a representative of hers in the meeting. For the current case, it was Asuna. Agil had suggested that he be the representative, but Ana had explained it would be better that someone who would be a participant in the raid should be the representative instead. Agil was mostly going to be a spectator, and relay what the others were saying to her before Ana would send her thoughts on the meeting to Ana.

The two guilds who had called for Beta to meet with them about forming a raid party, were at least two dozen people strong, but there were only a certain amount of those people who were a decent fit for the raid. They had a total of twenty people for the raid who were ready, though considering Beta's lineup, only fifteen of them would be needed. That was the basic lineup Beta had in mind when entering the meeting place early and waiting for the other two guilds. The other two guilds, who showed just on time, seemed all too smug. Sachi had stayed back from the main part of the group. As part of the ranged support team from Beta, she wasn't as vital toward the meeting, but she still had her fear of crowds to keep in mind. She would be fine during the full raid so long as all of the spacing was done properly, so Beta was keeping that in mind as well.

It had surprised the guild when Sachi insisted in being part of the raid group, knowing of her weakness in regards to being around crowds of people. Sachi had grown better with Beta as a whole, but larger groups were still a very difficult thing for her.

The tags above the people who entered the training ground, the other two guilds, were named Knights of the Blood Oath, and Holy Dragon Alliance. Their names were impressive to the sound, but that was all that was impressive so far considering their equipment. There wasn't a single crafted gear on any of the people in the other guilds. Crafted gear was the strongest within the game at the current point, but what was more noticeable, was the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath having a tower shield. As far as those in Beta knew, even Ana didn't have a tower shield among the crafted equipment she had made. Probably because of the lack in needing such a bulky defence with the mobility everything else could be worked with. Even her previous large bow with a shield like intent wasn't equivalent to a tower shield.

There wasn't a single girl among the other guilds, which only reminded Beta more about how rare it was for all of them to have come together and formed a guild, when the normal MMO gaming scene was riddled with men, and they would role play as girls either using a voice changer or playing the shy and silent type, using words through text to communicate. The men from the other guilds were also considering the presence of women as a phenomena, looking them over.

Comparing the groups from their equipment, Beta was impressive and looked to already be ready for end game considering how with many games, the end game had the characters looking most impressive in their gear, where it fully suits them or it actually looks good together. It was because of everything being crafted, but it was also the fact that the equipment was also incredible in the quality and stats. The Holy Dragon Alliance had more shabby gear, likely collected from dungeon chests. Nothing really went together, but it was better than the basic purchasable equipment from the NPCs. There were eight people from their group who were at the current combat playing max level. The rest of the group were a few levels behind, no doubt because of the difficulty of levelling to max level when not considering the ridiculous methods Beta had for levelling up. The Knights of the Blood Oath were doing quite well with their levels, but their equipment was...well, underwhelming would be a kind way of referring their equipment. It might go better together than the treasure items the Holy Dragon Alliance wore, but it was shabby, and only went along with a white and red motif as if for a uniform.

The other two guilds looked on at Beta as if they were playing a different game, sneering with an obvious distaste for the crafted gear. Beta looked on in disappointment at the equipment the other two guilds wore. In Beta's eyes, the other guilds weren't prepared at all with the knowledge of the disparity of the other two guilds.

"Where's the great leader of Beta today? Couldn't make it?"

The cocky attitude from the sub leader it seemed of the Knights of the Blood Oath gave everyone outside of their guild a disgusted feeling toward him. When the others from the Knights of the Blood Oath sneered and continued with that aside their leader, everyone had decided they disliked that.

"If that's the kind of attitude your guild has, turn around. We don't need arrogant jerks around to clear the raid."

The leader of the guild spoke up in return to that statement.

"You're right, Asuna of Beta. I apologize for the attitude of my guild. I have yet to make them realize how serious this all is. Your leader Ana-san can't make it because of her health condition, correct? It's unfortunate we would have to do without her skill in the coming fight, but I'm sure she's trained you all well. I feel safe with your far superior abilities and equipment to what we wear. We must look quite disappointing at first look, I assume. I assure you however, we wouldn't have approached you to only waste your time. Is there a possibility that Ana-san could prepare proper equipment for us? If so, we would be ready to show you our ability. We requested this location so we could show you in duels our own strength we have developed."

Heathcliff was good with his words, but Asuna disliked him. He spoke in a similar way to a man she had met a few times before when he was trying to butter up her father for some kind of financial backing.

"Hey, why the hell are you taking their side?!"

The one who stood next to Heathcliff wasn't happy with him being respectful toward Asuna and the others of Beta.

"Because we do need to take this seriously. I have been holding back from telling you and your friends how immature and unprofessional you are, but this seems to be a time where we can't ignore it. We don't stand a chance against the boss of this floor without Beta leading us, and that's a fact. Indeed, you did work hard and get your levels up, but don't lower yourselves to the same bitterness Laughing Coffin has against Beta. Beta is the most serious and knowledgeable group in this game, and we need to properly show our respect to those who might save our lives from here in the end."

Kirizu stood up next to Asuna, a feeling telling her that Heathcliff was too good with his words. Kirizu really wished she had learned from Ana how to examine another player's more secure information, like she did sometimes.

A message finally came from Ana, since Agil had been a little slow in telling her the situation.

"Ana is essentially hearing this conversation as well. She can't be here because of her condition, so you were right, Heathcliff. Taking your suggestion to mind she requests that your sub leader step forward for a match with Kirizu. Kirizu is still recovering from a medical situation occurring in reality, so her ability would be best suited for testing the ability of someone you deem one of your strongest. Or is he a strategic type?"

Heathcliff chuckled and shook his head.

"After his choice of words before, he most definitely proved his inability to lead our guild strategically. I do that. Certainly it would be better to let him show his ability to fight. Are you certain to send in Kirizu when she's recovering though?"

Asuna shook her head.

"Ana knows our conditions for battling better than even we do. If she says for Kirizu to test your sub leader, then it will be Kirizu."

Kirizu stepped down from her space with Beta, and walked down to one end of a close arena in the training ground, waiting for the sub leader from the Knights of the Blood Oath. That man clicked his tongue and groaned when Heathcliff told him to go and do as asked. He slowly made his way over, and when he received the duel request from Kirizu, he snickered.

"It really isn't in my taste to hit a girl. Especially one who was laid up for two weeks for medical reasons. Are you really sure about this?"

Kirizu yawned from her boredom of him. He was unimportant. Insignificant. He was unlikely to prove anything about his own skill at the rate he was going. If he was somehow surprisingly decent at fighting, even then he would end up losing all of his confidence in his abilities.

He hit the accept button for the duel angrily and charged after Kirizu immediately. Kirizu was still yawning when he closed in on her. Kirizu easily stepped a little to the side, and on the draw of her sword she parried his attack on her. Him and his sword were far too slow. The sword was about the only decent piece of equipment on him, but it was also about to run out of durability. Another parry from connecting with Kirizu's sword and there would be no point in continuing to test him unless he had a backup.

After the first exchange, he whirled around, treating his one handed sword like a two handed weapon, cleaving straight toward Kirizu's face. Kirizu ducked under the blade easily and gave a quick jab of her elbow to his abdomen. He buckled over from the attack easily, not having a high endurance for being hit. If he were fighting a monster and were to stagger so much from a single hit, he would be dead. There was not one ounce of proof in him being decent at all at fighting.

When he finally recovered, Kirizu waiting for him to stand back up and return to trying to hit her, she easily stepped out of the way of his blade. When this continued until he chopped downward, the miss he made when slicing toward the ground, shattered his sword. Kirizu was waiting for the sword to break so he would either have to prove ability with his hands, or pull out a more durable weapon. With a new weapon drawn, the exact same kind as before only in the shape of a two handed sword, he suddenly had a slight improvement. It was clear he was more used to fighting with the two handed weapon, but he was still too slow to be compared with Kirizu. All Kirizu was lacking in from her recovery process was the strength to deal her full amount of damage in a strike. Plus any movements which required a strain on flexibility with the legs. After learning so much about dodging from Ana, there was little to no need to be flexible while dodging an opponent with such little range.

With Kirizu no longer just dodging with the new weapon drawn, she continued to parry the enemy's strikes. He wasn't as hopeless as some people, but he wasn't going to improve. Kirizu was able to learn that much of him while she exchanged with him through the duel. He didn't stand a chance if she were to take the battle seriously, but he was better than the average player outside of Beta.

With satisfaction that enough was done for the battle, Kirizu waited for one final attack. The man swung down his claymore in a large arc, using the avalanche skill. Kirizu parried that attack, disabling it from finishing, disarmed the weapon and stabbed into his chest in the same movement. The duel ended, he returned to full health, and everyone was silent. Beta was silent because they knew they were unimpressed with the man from the Knights of the Blood Oath. The Knights of the Blood Oath were depressed at the sight of their ally failing so completely at making a match against Kirizu. The Holy Dragon Alliance showed their shock at how well Kirizu moved despite her recovering condition, so they weren't as obvious of their disappointment in the fighter from the Knights of the Blood Oath.

Ana's impression had to take a little, since she had requested to leave it up to Kirizu to judge if the man had been decent at fighting. When Kirizu finished sending her impression of the fight, Ana informed her on her opinion. That much was enough.

"Ana says her impression of your ability is enough. We'll have one more for now from Knights of the Blood Oath show their ability. This person has to be the one with the most room to improve from the guild leader's perspective. That person will fight Leafa."

With the new words from Ana, spoken from Kirizu's mouth, the other guilds snapped from their stupor toward the fight they had just seen. Heathcliff quickly recovered, stood up and faced his guild. He pointed out one person from the currently max combat level group.

"Is he the one with most room for improvement overall, or just from your high level guild members?"

Heathcliff sighed and shook his head.

"Apologies, I should have known better than to just choose from our level locked group. Ana-san is that way after all, bringing out the best of the people she meets. On that note...Quell-kun, it's your turn to fight."

The person who was called out was singled out from the rest of the guild as everyone else gave him room to stand up and show himself. He was about the same age as Kirizu it seemed, more of a handsome boy than most of the men gathered. From certain angles, he could even be considered cute, like a girl.

Quell was shy as he made his was out from his guild to the duelling arena, where he faced off against Leafa. The duel request from Leafa seemed to wake him from his shyness a little. He looked at the duel request, then to Leafa. When his eyes met hers, he immediately looked back to the request, trying to avoid her eyes. Kirizu and Asuna noticed the blush right away as Quell avoided looking at any of Beta's members in the eyes. Female intuition after all, sometimes was able to pick out a woman even if she seemed masculine enough to look a man. Quell, was a woman. The only woman from either of the other guilds. They didn't bring it up, but Leafa also caught on, and decided to give some encouragement to Quell.

"Hey, no need to be so shy. When fighting someone, you have to look at them, and let your body move how it feels best. Combat basics, right?"

Quell sighed and looked at Leafa for a second, knowing she had been found out. She tapped the accept button to begin the duel, and readied herself. Leafa was ready to fight in the same way Kirizu had, but Quell was more reserved in fighting compared to the sub leader from the Knights of the Blood Oath. When she finally pulled in a breath in readying herself, she started forward. She was careful in her approach. When she made her first attack toward Leafa, she nearly made a thrust like meant with a rapier, but she ended with turning the sword to arc and try to disarm Leafa. Leafa quickly dodged out of the way, and the battle truly began.

Quell was full of unexpected movements, able to snake around her movements. Her feinting with the attacks she would make were amazing for fighting other people, but they would be useless against a monster unless using the technique to get under their armour. Her level indicated that she was well experienced with fighting the monsters at least. That is, unless she was carried to her level by the others of the guild. But then, Heathcliff did consider her the person with the most room to improve.

Leafa had difficulty dodging Quell, and Quell didn't hold back once she got into a good balance with her movements and learned how Leafa moved. The difference in ability was clear, but with some more refining in training, Quell seemed very easily capable of surpassing Leafa in ability. Which was surprising considering Leafa's capability still being very impressive among those in Beta.

After a few minutes of the battle passed, Quell managed to strike a clean thrust toward Leafa's head. Leafa was barely able to react in time to duck down. In her reaction to the attack, she returned the attack with a strong parry, flinging Quell's sword away. Leafa cancelled the duel after disarming Quell, and she sheathed her sword at her side. She turned around to look at Quell, and Quell was trembling with a fearful expression on her face.

"You did very well. Come on, some deep breaths."

Leafa was trying to ease Quell back from the energy of the fight. Quell followed the direction to take deep breaths, eventually managing to calm down.

Ana's response to Leafa's report about Quell was fast. That she was accepted into the raid. Ana would also personally train her. Leafa was surprised at how confident Ana could be from Leafa's words alone. Or was Ana watching the battles from somewhere...?

"Ana has said she would like to personally train Quell, and Quell is invited to the raid."

When everyone heard the report from Leafa, they weren't so surprised. Quell had done far better against Leafa than the sub commander of Knights of the Blood Oath had done against Kirizu. It was more the difference in their skill gap than anything. If Quell had a sabre sword instead of a basic short sword, she would be that much more frightening, Leafa imagined. After being trained by Ana, it was entirely likely for Quell to surpass many of Beta's members. Plus, Beta knew that Ana intended to outfit all of the members of the raid in at least the basic of her capabilities with the floor ten crafting materials. Perhaps Quell would receive special treatment, perhaps Ana might invite her to Beta.

The eyes of the people from Beta observed Quell. Quell was a taller girl. She was slim, but she was also strong and lean. Her armour hid any obvious traits, and her face was more handsome and masculine than pretty and feminine. With her short chestnut brown hair which had a little flare at the bottom edge around her chin, and the bangs which covered one of her eyes, she was very eye catching. She had a sharp appearance to her face which gave more to the masculinity. She could easily be seen to have smooth feminine skin though. She had bright hazel eyes, and one beauty mark on her face, located beside the bottom of her right ear. She wore studded earrings, which were easy to assume to be worn before entering the game, even though it was entirely possible to wear in game jewelry without issue. She looked as natural with her pink crystal studs as Ana looked with her dangling emerald and diamond earrings and necklace. Especially since they were stuck there and couldn't be unequipped. Aside from the use of the barber shop. It was possible that Quell had some sort of emotional attachment to the earrings though, so none of Beta decided to bring it up.

"Now, we'll have Heathcliff from Knights of the Blood Oath show your strength in a battle against myself."

Asuna was prepared for a lengthy battle if Heathcliff were good at using his shield. Asuna made herself ready at her starting point in the arena, and she sent Heathcliff the duel request before he arrived in his position. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the battle she was about to face.

She noticed Heathcliff's fingers moving in the same deft manner Ana did as he walked toward his position across from her, and it threw her off balance. She shook her head lightly to not attract the attention of the others, taking another breath, in attempt to steel herself again for the battle about to begin. She wasn't ready when he accepted the duel and leapt toward her with a surprising sonic leap. She barely had time to move out of the way from his sword. She had reacted naturally and dodged to the shield side, but Heathcliff made her regret that movement, bashing her with his shield and continuing with another slash toward her.

Asuna tumbled and rolled out of the way of the strike, completely managing to get out of the way, but only because of the techniques that Ana had taught her so that she would be able to face unexpected circumstances better. Such agile and acrobatic movements weren't as common in practising the rapier, so it wouldn't have been in Asuna's nature to be able to get free from that strike against her without the training she had received. She smiled and gave a thought of thanks toward Ana.

Asuna followed up her dodge with a sweeping strike from the face of her sabre, barely showing the capability to sweep Heathcliff from his feet because of his weight, most likely from the influence of his shield. She followed up the sweep with rolling backward and using the motion to propel herself back to her feet. The movements she showed had all become natural. It was strange to her, and she imagined it would be far more difficult to do outside of the game, her hair becoming a problem if she weren't wearing the protective helmet.

Asuna had gained a good amount of ground from Heathcliff, she realized, and he had difficulty recovering from his stagger, being dropped to the ground in the sweep. When he finished rising to his feet, Asuna took the example from before to mind and acted on that new knowledge. When Heathcliff started his new charge toward her, she thought about it, and he must have some kind of abilities with the shield, and from her own check on skill trees everyone started off with, only bucklers to small kite shields in size had skills. Unless somehow he was using a skill from the smaller shields with his large shield, he needed to be taken more seriously. When he slashed toward her in a wide horizontal arc from his armed side, she dodged in a roll out of the way to his sword arm. She had to test him a little more to learn more about his abilities.

When he quickly tried to reposition himself, she sliced her sword up to catch his sword which swung back down in an arc as he moved. The swords caught in a strong draw, she was able to get a little more of a sense for his ability. He used a long sword, and a tower shield. The tower shield seemed to be more his primary weapon though. He only showed off his ability with the sword more. He was good with the sword, but being more protective of himself was something she recognized, and she was reminded of how he talked before. Even if his voice were different, his way of speaking was almost the exact same as the voice everyone heard on the first floor and the fifth floor. There were many people who might speak that way, but the more she learned about him through how he fought, she felt more and more certain it was him.

After the draw with their swords, Asuna broke it with rolling back in a dodge of his continued strength of the draw swinging toward her. At the end of his attack, she pierced forward at a lightning quick speed, piercing at the centre of his chest. When her sabre struck against his chest, not sinking in like it should have, her eyes widened in shock. She was about to take a strike from his shield in her moment of stun from what she saw. Where her sabre touched, the same purple notification of an immortal object rested.

Before his shield touched her, the duel was broken by the sudden interruption of someone entering their battle zone, grabbing Asuna around the waist and pulling her back. Asuna was still in shock from what she saw, so when she noticed who had saved her, she near completely forgot about the notice she saw at the end of her sword.

"Cheating already, mighty avatar everyone has only seen at events? Care to try that again, mister immortal object?"

Ana's whispered words were sharp and quiet enough that only herself, Asuna and Heathcliff would hear her words. Asuna had been thinking it was possible with putting information together, but hearing Ana confirm it, and Heathcliff's expression finally broke her stunned state. She steadied herself and faced Heathcliff with a serious, strong expression.

Asuna received a private message from Ana before Asuna thought to do as Ana mentioned not do. Asuna wasn't to tell the others about the immortal object point. Ana wanted to figure out his point of view, and have a fair match with him.

Heathcliff received the challenge to a duel with Ana, and he visibly trembled. He knew that without cheating, he would never be able to land a hit on her. She would even be able to break is shield without issue.

"Tell me, Akihiko-kun. What drove you to this? Trapping all of these people in this game? I assumed at the beginning that you wanted to play God, but a God playing among the rabble really doesn't seem to fit. Not unless you had some kind of goal with playing with the people you trapped."

Ana's whispers became more quiet, directed only to Heathcliff. Asuna barely heard. He became fearful, knowing he wasn't safe in front of Ana. He visibly gulped, and whispered his response to her carefully, and Asuna heard his uneasy reply.

"N-nice...to meet you again, Ana-senpai...as far as the answer...I can't remember..."

He seemed genuinely, honestly forgetful from his appearance.

"You'd always been terrible at lying. But...it doesn't matter. I know you're only an AI based off the real person. I'm testing how well he made you. He must have assumed that I would come across you at some point and know right away."

Heathcliff trembled and shook, and Asuna was even more surprised to hear what Ana said.

"Well, accept the duel request. I want to understand better if you're copied data from his brain or if you're just his bigger pet project after stealing all of my research on virtual technology. You wouldn't have that information except for how you move. It'll be easier to tell from fighting you than from listening through Asuna's fight against you."

Ana turned to Asuna and smiled.

"Just on time?"

Asuna finally felt the weight of how in danger she had been before, and tears sprang to her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Ana and whispered her response.

"Thank you for saving me, Mom."

Ana nodded her head and pet Asuna, fixing some hairs which had been displaced a little during the fight and not yet fixed from the auto correcting of the system.

"It's what a mother does. Now, go rest up with Kirizu and try to keep this to yourself as much as possible."

Ana was incredibly gentle when dealing with Asuna that way. As her mother, as her protector, Ana was fierce toward whatever might hurt her, and incredibly gentle toward her child. She already felt ready to fully take Asuna into her family as another daughter.

Ana and Heathcliff took their positions in the duel ground, and every spectator was enthralled by the chance they were about to get. Aside Beta and a few others had the chance to see Ana's ability in fighting before. Thankfully for Ana, the training grounds were large, and everyone was a good distance away from her enough that she didn't feel the small tick signalling her anxiety starting to take effect.

Heathcliff finally accepted the duel request, and as per his programming, he charged toward Ana. She deftly dodged and parried his follow up easily, disarming his sword easily. As the sword flew away, and struck at him once across the chest. When her sword scratched along the surface instead of slicing into him, she shook her head and reminded him.

"Do you want everyone to know you're a program? Take off your idiotic immortality right now or everyone will notice. This can be played off as a miss, but otherwise..."

She backed off for a few seconds after sending that message, and the AI Heathcliff rapidly went to correct the immortality to mortality, and he returned to fighting her properly. A few exchanges after equipping his sword again, and he lost the sword for a second time, and Ana disarmed the shield in the same movement, cutting the straps of the shield. After finishing the disarming, Ana followed up with thrusting the tip of her sword into Heathcliff's chest. Because of her level and because of the strength of her sword, the damage he sustained would normally be fatal. Everything she did in the short fight was calculating. Testing how he attacked her, how he reacted to the situation with his immortality, how he reacted to being disarmed, how he reacted to dying...it all led to her answer. Heathcliff, was Kayaba Akihiko's pet project, copying his brain's data into an artificial intelligence. He couldn't copy everything, but the capacity for emotions such as fear was important. Without that, Heathcliff wouldn't have been able to prove as a leader for the people he brought together. He would have been an empty shell that wouldn't be able to lead, and people would have seen through him right away, no matter how capable people were. It could just also be that nobody was looking for him. After all, what reason did they have to believe that Kayaba Akihiko would be in the game with them?

The same kind of stabbing attack which Ana landed, Heathcliff had blocked before with immortality. That much, most people had already forgotten Asuna had lost her attack. Kirizu, Sinon, Sachi and Philia noticed, and they were still holding back on their judgements because of Ana.

As the battle had finished, Ana moved back to her spot in the arena, and she sent a message to the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance.

"Same order as with the Knights of the Blood Oath. I will face all of the roles from your guild. Send me your guild's sub leader."

Ana continued to wait for the Holy Dragon Alliance to comply. One after one, she quickly ran through those people. In the end, she sighed and told her opinion on the raid's possibility with the two other guilds with her usual text window method.

"Very lacklustre performance from the Holy Dragon Alliance. Knights of the Blood Oath are doing fine for the time being. Everyone has room for improvement. For the next two days, we'll start a training session for those who I choose to take into the raid. For the moment, Terru from the Holy Dragon Alliance, as well as Heathcliff and Quell from Knights of the Blood Oath have secured their places in the raid. Everyone will still need specialized training. Those who are taken into the raid will also be given equipment, so that they will be able to better handle the additional monsters. Keep in mind, the last time additional monsters showed up, was on the first floor. I will not be present in the raid personally. This means I can't fix any issues which arise during the battle. I need to ensure you have proper defences for handling this battle, the proper equipment to hold the additional monsters away from the two teams of our guild who are prepared for handling the boss monster itself. The additional monsters should not be taken lightly. Six people from each guild will handle the additional monsters, and the best suited for support from either of your guilds will make up a second support team. Beta is already providing a main and off tanking team, as well as a support team. Each team, is three people. As well, we will be splitting the recruits from your guilds to this raid. We will need four total tanks from you, eight damage dealers, and then the split for support. For our teams, the main tank team is Yuuki, Leafa and Sinon, the off tank team is Kirizu, Asuna and Lisbeth. For the support team, Philia is our back up tank, with Sachi and Silica. All three of our support team are armed with ranged capability using bows. It would be preferable to have another ranged support team from your groups, however it would take a certain type of person to be able to wield the bow well after a short time of training."

The text windows which told Ana's view on the raid to the other two guilds, eventually ended and Holy Dragon Alliance as well as Knights of the Blood Oath showed their respect to Ana. Ana continued to test more of the people from both guilds. Eventually she had everyone picked out, and she as well as the others who used the bow from Beta began teaching the new archers for the raid. Everyone else was dismissed, explained that their training schedule would be relayed through their guild leaders. After two more days of training after the current day, everyone was going to be completely ready for the raid.

At the end of the day, Ana was exhausted from the anxiety she ended up facing. Anabelle had joined Beta's crowd around when Ana saved Asuna before, but everyone was so preoccupied with Ana having shown up to pay attention to Anabelle. Needing the most rest, both went to bed early.


	35. Chapter 35

~Quell and the Raid~

The first person to begin their training with Ana after the training of the new support archers, was Heathcliff. Despite the fact he was a program invented by the man who trapped them in the game, he did have the programming code directing himself to help for the time being with clearing the game. At least for the time being. Plus, it was very easy for Ana to hack into Heathcliff if he decided to go against her.

Heathcliff was still in his ridiculous outfit which had no bearing on stats when he arrived in the training ground. Ana sighed and shook her head at the disappointment of his equipment. Regardless of his equipment, he wouldn't improve much unless he learned as well as a program could. Her training him would be a good test on how reliable Heathcliff had been made.

Ana couldn't visually see the details of him, but Heathcliff was a taller man. Not as tall as Agil, but at least taller than Kayaba Akihiko had been. Taller than the average Japanese. He had long, thin silver hair which was tied back. Nothing about his appearance tied to him as Kayaba Akihiko, but between his programming and the account he was using, it seemed possible that Kayaba Akihiko had given Heathcliff reign on Sword Art Online. Ana wondered where Akihiko was. The usual suspicion if he were considering himself the greatest existence in the game, he would place himself as the boss of the hundredth floor. There were other options, but that seemed the most likely. He just used Heathcliff as his eyes. He himself was the avatar at the events, and Ana knew that easily enough. He was in the game, and he wasn't breaking the rule personally he had set for everyone else.

Ana thought on other details, such as how he was being cared for. What kind of facility did he have secretly constructed for his dive into the game, especially that he still couldn't be found? The best bet was that he was possibly somewhere nobody would think to look, and he was under the care of someone he hired to just make sure he didn't die while logged into the game.

Ana shook her head and returned her thoughts to the idea of training the program she would have fighting alongside Beta and the other people trapped in the game. She needed to ensure he wasn't going to suddenly turn around and start attacking the other people in the raid some part of the way through. It was entirely possible for him to just put up his invincibility at any time, even possibly use his administrative power to instant kill any monster in the game. That seemed like something outside of his programmed responses to a situation however.

"Hello, Ana-san."

Heathcliff's greeting was about normal if considering he didn't know how much of a threat to his existence she was. She could easily tell that he was nervous, the game indicating through her advanced perception skill. She returned his greeting with a text window.

"Are you ready for training? Be sure to remember to take off your invincibility. Ah, and answer me this question. If you give me a good answer, I won't have to tinker with your programming."

Heathcliff froze for a moment. Some in her position knowing he was a program might think he lagged or crashed, but she also knew because of her skill in perception, he froze because of his fear.

"How possible is it for you to turn on the other members of the raid?"

The question asked, he fell from his freezing and walked the rest of the way into the training arena, removing his invincibility along the way. He was still nervous of the result of his answer, but it was better than not knowing the question at all and having the threat on him that he was going to be tinkered if his answer wasn't good.

"There's no reason for something like that this early...he says."

Heathcliff relayed a direct answer from Kayaba instead of giving his own answer.

"Guess I'll have to pry you out of his grip then so he doesn't try anything stupid any time soon. I'll save that for after training though. Give him a chance to try and figure out if he has any chance of stopping my ability to hack him. He's only good at stealing after all. I suppose you're a bit of a counter to that, but I had my own system I had included with my programming of the virtual devices. You're part of the Cardinal system, obviously. This is all functioning off of the constant evolving programming I wrote. It's quite easy to tell, especially with that random extra quest and all of the other one off quests. The evolving world of Aincrad. The only thing that doesn't change, is that anything except for the players and floor bosses will be replaced...ah, except for the NPCs. They're protected anyway though because of the safe zones. You wouldn't be possible without Cardinal. Cardinal was how he was able to create you, and I already figured that out."

Heathcliff shuddered, but he managed to calm down by the end. Ana was horrifying if thinking that he was just a random program that had been created by Kayaba Akihiko alone, but being built by the Cardinal system from his attempt to copy himself into data, Heathcliff was more Ana's creation than anything. With some of Kayaba's memories, and some of his intents. He was mostly his own person though. Would be completely when Ana would separate their link.

Ana finally sent the duel request to Heathcliff. Heathcliff responded by accepting the duel request, and charging forward as per usual. Ana was unimpressed by the charging forward tactic. Of course, if he were being realistic with that size of shield, he would be far less mobile. Realistic didn't really matter in the game to that degree however. The issue was, he was sort of going off of the assumption that Ana had created, that not using skills and preserving them for good moments was the only good time to use them. Ana entertained his charging about a little, but she caught his sword and disarmed him eventually.

She lectured him on many points he should be more focused on, especially in a raid where his role would be to hold the enemies away from the main group. Him charging about in a raid so recklessly would only endanger the others. He needed to concentrate on being a good team mate instead of a good fighter alone. Direct the attacks of the opponents in his control, and make it easier for the others working with him to break through the monsters. Use his shield more. Use his sword less. Use aggro pulling skills at a good pacing so that he would be able to keep the attention of the monsters on himself.

The only really good characteristic about the apparent holy shield skill tree he wielded, was that merely having the skill tree gave him unlimited durability on the shield, and blocking an attack with it would completely nullify damage which would otherwise be done even with other shields in blocking it. The only other method of so easily negating damage, was being able to dodge as well as Ana and the others of Beta who had reached that point in their training. Or the perfect parrying and counters they had learned to do. Blocking was guaranteed with anything other than the holy shield skill, to still inflict some damage onto the player. Some sort of pain penalty which made sense.

The training continued on for a little longer, and the next person who had appointment to start their training arrived. The very shy Quell almost didn't enter the training ground after seeing how easily Heathcliff was being pushed around by Ana. Heathcliff to Quell, was her guild leader. A guild leader shouldn't be so easily pushed over. Then again, it was someone as unfathomable as Ana, who even Laughing Coffin and The Army were greatly swayed by.

Quell sat down and waited for Heathcliff's training to end, but it seemed for the time after Ana gave one final lesson to him, there was a moment of silence.

"Good. Now I don't need to worry about you turning on everyone. Ah, and I also removed your administration access. No more invulnerability and one hit kills for you...if you used the one hit kills, then this is a good way to make you learn to be more careful. Now you get to experience what this is all really like for the rest of us trapped here."

Heathcliff sighed in the end, and Quell was confused by the moment of silence.

"Ana-san truly is fearsome. Why not take the administration access from me and clear through this in a day? Surely you have no reason to stay here and humour his antics?"

Ana shook her head.

"For him, this is his chance to play God, and his chance to see his world made real with other people as the show he's creating. For me, this is the opportunity to experience all of the work I put into creating a virtual reality. After getting out of here, I'm definitely going to create a better one. A safe device with the capacity for going even further. After all, I'm even so close to curing my anxiety, my largest weakness in here."

Heathcliff smiled.

"Well, as much as I'd enjoy speaking with you and learning more from you, it's time for your next lesson. Thank you for helping me."

Heathcliff and Ana had been sure to keep their conversation to private messages Quell couldn't hear. Quell was curious of the conversation they were having silently in front of her with their interesting expressions on their faces. When Heathcliff finally made move to leave, waving his hand as he left, he smiled at Quell.

"Do your best. Ah, and I do hope you continue to work with us in Knights of the Blood Oath. I have the feeling Ana might have interest in recruiting you to Beta."

Heathcliff only said it in passing, but Quell was still incredibly nervous at the idea of Ana being interested in her that much. As far as Quell knew, Ana hadn't actually witnessed her fight with Leafa the day before, but she was somehow convinced Ana had witnessed some kind of recording since that was available if Leafa recorded their fight and had it feeding to Ana in a message.

Quell nervously put her energy into whatever she did. Whether it was walking into the arena and to her end of the arena, just being within Ana's sensory range, everything made her nervous. Ana was a presence almost as frightening as an administrator within the game. She was the kind of person everyone wanted to be on the good side of, or be invisible.

"Calm down."

Those two words in a text window in front of Quell made her remember that Leafa had been the same way before the two of them had fought.

"For the most part, you only need a little bit of correcting and you could learn some new pointers to your technique, but overall, your greatest weakness is your nervousness. Drop the fear already. I know you're female. At least according to the game's information. Are you the opposite of myself, by chance? See, I had been born male, but I have been female for twelve years already. If you were born female and intend the other path to become male, then you're doing impressive. You have an impressive masculinity to how you feel. Even eyes aren't needed to be able to sense that. You have nothing to worry about with me. The others of Beta know since you're not very good at hiding yourself from women, but we won't spread your information about. You should already know by now that we aren't that kind of group of people."

Quell was still nervous, but she sighed and bowed her head for a minute.

"How was it? Your transition?"

Quell was still afraid. She wanted more protection for her privacy, but didn't think to use the private messaging system. Ana was thoughtful for a moment, then the text window appeared surprisingly in front of Quell's eyes.

"Transition took a while. It always will take a while. The body needs to take time to change after all. You'll take a little longer than I did if you are indeed intent on changing since you are already past the age where I went through my transition. I started hormone replacement a few years before I had my surgery, but I had my surgery at fourteen. If I had waited, I would likely be taller than you are now. I'm glad I started transitioning when I did, having the strength to stand up for myself. It was difficult to go through the transition, but it was also the most incredible thing. I had been careful and dieted to make sure I wouldn't develop too much as a male before being on hormone replacement. This allowed me to stay shorter because of the nutrient deficiency. I didn't develop nearly as much muscle because of the lack of testosterone I allowed into my system during my diet. Overall, the experience was more positive than negative. Not everyone transitions the same though. My largest downside, was convincing most of my family to accept me. Some still don't. Coming to Japan with my fiancee was somewhat of a way to stop from stirring up drama, but I'm glad I came here regardless. Even if much of Japan is also against the idea of transition religiously."

Quell was suddenly posed with so many scenarios from Ana. So many things which influenced Ana's transition.

"I..."

"Let's do some of your training first. We can talk a little more between, and you lose some of your anxiety and tension as you throw yourself more and more into your fighting."

The duel request was sent to Quell. When she received it, she tightly closed her eyes and braced herself before hitting the accept option. She did her best to put her thoughts out of her mind, and started forward carefully like she had with Leafa before. Ana made the duel very easy for her. She helped close the distance a little, and she for the most part dodged for the first bit. Quell very quickly became more and more impressive as she fought longer. This made it much easier for Ana to check where Quell's ability peaked. Eventually, they found that end. Quell was impressive, but she lacked real fighting experience. She was nervous of looking someone in the eye as she fought them, concentrating on much of their body instead, so that she could get used to memorizing their movements. That was a weakness when fighting another person, since another person could easily do something completely different than what she had grown herself to expect.

Ana stopped Quell's chain of attacks easily by grabbing her wrist toward the end.

"You have plenty to learn, but you are very good. I'll be sure you get your basics mastered first, and after that, we'll focus on your stamina and your nerves. The point I need to get at here, is that you have to know. You have the greatest potential out of everyone from the raid meeting yesterday. You even have a good chance of catching me with the right training, which is what I aim for. This means you have the potential to personally surpass many of the people I have been training in Beta. Anabelle is out of the question however. At her age, having already nearly caught up with me is beyond ridiculous."

Quell became curious.

"Anabelle is your daughter right? Is she from before, or after...?"

"After my transition. In three months, it'll be ten years since she came into the world."

Quell couldn't help but smile at the happy attitude Ana had from talking about Anabelle.

"You sound so happy. I don't have that strength though. I don't have the courage to change so much. Just looking like a man is enough for me..."

Quell got her words out, and smiled a little at the thought.

"Do you want to parent your own child in the future though? You're already at the age that when we get out of this game, while you might need to repeat some classes, you'd be considered an adult and ready to graduate. You'd have to consider your future as seriously as possible. Would you continue as a boyish man until you couldn't avoid your female side? Would you simply adopt with a romantic partner? Would you take hormone treatment the rest of your life? The surgery is one beast in itself. If you are afraid of going through the pain of the surgery, it's much less from the information connection between outside and in here. Talk to Kirizu if you would like to know more on that. It is possible to go through the surgery while in here, is the important point to consider. There's a two week recovery time window however. Kirizu is still recovering a bit, but at least at this point she is able to move around. That was her reason for absence recently. I hope you keep that to yourself and not talk to your guild about it. Ah...that does bring up one thought..."

Ana stewed over it a little.

"Well, I'll continue on that after getting you trained up on your basics...or while I train you on them."

Ana considered Quell's fighting style seriously. And Quell's mind. Was Quell truly male minded? Or female minded? At least it was easier to understand Quell's strengths and abilities with the fighting aspect. The mind was different though. Ana wasn't some supernatural mind reader. She could predict someone from their emotional reactions and their overall stature, but any further would be beyond her ability.

Quell was beyond the simple good at using the sabre type of sword fighting style. The average sabre user in real life for competitive purposes would have trouble with Quell. Of that, Ana was certain. As she drilled the basics into Quell, Ana noticed how easily Quell molded into a good shape. Like any of her crafts within the game.

When they arrived at a good point to continued their conversation, Ana mentioned the continuation of her thought from before.

"On the topic of your guild. I heard that he had assumed you would possibly be recruited by myself. The truth is, I want to have someone I can trust beside him. I'd like you to become the sub leader of Knights of the Blood Oath, and watch him closely. Essentially as a spy, but more accurately as just information. See, he's connected to the person who trapped us all in here. I'd like you to tell me anything you might hear from him about two names. People connected to the virtual reality project. I know my name would come up on that topic, as I was the propelling force in getting what they used for virtual technology. However, there were two more names aside Kayaba Akihiko which are important to finding an optional other way out of here. If you hear the name Noboyuki Sugou, inform me immediately. If anyone could be considered more dangerous than Kayaba, he would be the person. He constantly fought with Kayaba and showed far more greed and intent to steal. He was also terrible at hiding his so called secret project. That his intended use for virtual reality, was to use it to experiment on the minds of people in the ways of mental and emotional control. It's very possible that he intends to use Sword Art Online and pin his experiments onto Kayaba. He would need to log into the game in order to do anything large, so I assume Heathcliff would be one of the first players to know if he were in the game. If I can catch Noboyuki, I could immediately end this game, of course by hacking to take his administrative abilities. That, is what I would like to ask of you. I would also offer to keep your equipment as up to date as Beta should you accept this offer. You would have the security of knowing you are wearing the best protection while progressing through Aincrad."

Quell stared frozen at Ana the moment how dangerous Noboyuki Sugou started being explained and felt a deep rooted fear. Such a person...such a monster had been practising virtual technology for such a reason?

As if some coincidence, Ana received a private message, not a call from Ryra. Finally a date had been decided on by Asuna's birth parents to meet. It wasn't just the information for the day and time however.

"Asuna's father decided on the appointment time and day. For afternoon two days from now. Kyouko Yuuki hasn't been included so much in this information, aside she will also be there. However, he also decided to bring someone else along. Wasn't Noboyuki Sugou one of the people you complained about on the virtual technology team you led?"

Ana trembled in her frustration at the contents of the message. She responded as quickly as possible. She explained again just how dangerous he was, and that he shouldn't be allowed for the appointment. Ryra had a reply quickly after Ana's reply.

"Asuna's father has decided not to put her up for adoption. He intends to marry Asuna to this Noboyuki..."

Ana cursed. She was infuriated. She had far more reason than ever to attend that meeting now. She would gauge those people and decide on whether she should ruin their lives completely and thoroughly. Ana's curse caught Quell's attention and her anger made Quell terrified.

"He can't take back handing over the adoption papers. Whatever you do, don't let go of those. Also, see what you can do about having Noboyuki tracked. It's likely that monster intends to use people trapped in here to do his illegal experimenting on. If we can catch him before he does that, then it's also possible to shut down the game from that end. Only possible though. If you find him trying to access Sword Art Online, contact Koujiro Rinko immediately. She would be the only person on that end capable of shutting Sword Art Online down. Also, Noboyuki runs a virtual advancement project last I checked. RECT Inc. is the company. Have police check over any work he does there and hopefully it would be enough to incriminate him and put him on Yuuki's blacklist."

Ana was pulling up as much memory of the virtual reality project team as possible to think of how to counter the situation with Asuna's father. Ana wouldn't allow such a person to dictate Asuna's life any further. She and Ryra already had all the information needed to ruin the man based on Asuna's medical report and his current treatment of her. He could be locked away for a very long time and his life ruined for the attempting act of selling off his daughter to Noboyuki. Ana's goal however, was to ruin both of them. Noboyuki and Asuna's father. Both were disgusting men who needed to learn that the world wasn't their plaything.

Quell was confused and still afraid of Ana, but managed to work up the courage to ask Ana what was happening. Ana snapped out from her current mental predicament, and sighed.

"Sorry, Quell."

Quell nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was...well, a coincidence. A rather unfortunate one. Information on Noboyuki outside. Him and Asuna's father plan to do something completely disgusting so my fiancee and I are trying to round up any intelligence against them. At least it's possible that he won't get one second to do his foul work of experimenting on us trapped in here. The unfortunate point to that, would be my incapacity for taking the administration from him to end the game."

Quell was a little confused, a little upset, but happy that Ana was doing better.

"Let's finish, and you can consider your answer to me about what I mentioned before. If you'd rather not spy over Heathcliff, then you're welcome to join Beta."

Quell nodded and sighed. Training continued. It wasn't much longer, but Quell improved immensely. Ana managed to teach a technique which made it easier for Quell to face human opponents. That, and Quell's massive improvement in fighting capability, led to Quell's decision. On a few topics.

"I will...I will become the sub leader for the Knights of the Blood Oath and help you as much as I can from there. However, I'd also like to have dual membership, if fine with you. To be part of Beta is such an honour. That, and I take the job of observing him within Knights of the Blood Oath as a member of Beta. As well, I would like to know more of the surgery details from yourself and Kirizu. I would like to feel more comfortable as myself, and you've helped me realize I won't be happy letting myself just end up unhappy with my body. I...would like for you to refer to me as male, please."

He was resolute.

"I do feel the need to ask however...what kind of horrible thing were the Noboyuki you spoke of and miss Asuna's father planning if you were so worked up before?"

He showed such a rapid improvement in talking to Ana, she wondered just how real Quell's anxiety had been. Ana explained the topic to Quell, and he only became more and more resolute in his decision.

"So foul...I do understand what you mean though in ensuring they be properly punished and taking your time in having them understood enough to exact the correct punishment. How could a father consider such a terrible thing...?"

"I believe it would be the common trait those two share. Greed. Both of them feel as if a living embodiment of the trait. Their morals are so mixed, they likely don't understand what they are doing is so horrible to justify the end. Either way, Asuna's father doesn't feel to be a rational person in the first place. Neither he nor her birth mother feel to have been rational or proper parents. I intend to adopt Asuna to my family after this, and let her continue her own path freely instead of be dictated every point of her life by such nonsense."

Quell nodded his head again and sighed.

"Well, I leave the next lesson to you. I look forward to the new equipment. Please no uniform for myself."


	36. Chapter 36

~Eleventh Floor~

The tenth floor boss fight went by...surprisingly fast. Even without Ana directly leading the raid, the battle went so smoothly and quickly, the raid closed in a little under an hour. Exactly as she had directed the battle to go as far as the participants and the way the monsters would act or react, everything went exactly as expected.

Everything went as expected and most of the raid party were excited and ready to journey up to the eleventh floor, but the main leaders of the raid were different. Asuna and Kirizu were nervous about what was to come, in the afternoon with the appointment they were to have. The conversation with Asuna's birth parents.

Beta didn't all know about the appointment being that day, so when Asuna and Kirizu tried to hide it, they were inclined to start making guesses without assuming any kind of answer as to what was going on with them. Some guesses were directed toward there being some kind of trouble in their relationship. There wasn't much though toward other possibilities.

Everyone moved upward to the next floor together, and Beta made their way to the teleport plaza, so to welcome the rest of their guild to the new floor. For the first time, lunch hadn't been prepared for them ahead of time, since Ana wanted to surprise Kirizu and Asuna with a recipe that was special to Ryra, to check if they would like it. The instant the teleport gate was unlocked, Ana, Anabelle and Agil appeared. Ana led the way away, but it was mostly because of her anxiety since Beta had grown to have so many people and everyone crowding around the teleport gate wouldn't be good for her. Ana became a little sick.

After a little walking and finding a park, Beta finally took in the sights of the eleventh floor. It was a very nice environment. Warm, with a cozy feeling with the same structures as the previous floors, having wooden buildings for the most part, then having some stone structures for design purpose mostly. The overall feel of the town was just...cozy. As far as outside of the town, they wanted to go exploring. Everyone else from the raid had decided to do that right away, but Beta were always reminded by Ana to make sure they were remembering to eat.

Outside of the town, when they made it outside, it was the first most normal looking environment for the warm weather they had seen. Of course parts of the environment felt natural, but otherwise, it felt supernatural with some kind of floating islands, large crystals around in the fields, plenty of fantasy elements to remind them they were indeed inside of a game. The scenery on the eleventh floor was a wonderful farm land kind of environment with a lake outside of the northern exit, with very little for monster presence, and those monster which were around, were passive.

Finding a good spot along the shore of the lake north of the town, Ana began setting out everyone's meals, and sat down with Anabelle. Asuna and Kirizu sat right next to them on their left side, and everyone else spaced themselves out a bit for consideration toward Ana's health and her anxiety. Still, Ana hadn't discovered how to cure her anxiety. So still, everyone was considerate of her condition and did what they could to make things a little easier for her to be with them. It wasn't possible to be that considerate during a large battle like the raid before, but everyone wished that she could go along. They would feel all the more safe to have her directly influencing the battle after all.

The lunch that Ana had prepared for everyone, was a different variation on the stuffed bread sandwich. This time, however, the insides were far more strong in their scent and taste. The mixture of a strong meat with strong seasoning prepared just right, with some softened cooked vegetables just sweet enough to calm down the intensity of the meat taste, along with a cool mayonnaise kind of dressing and a sweet cream flavouring to the bread, everyone was able to understand what Ana meant by it being Ryra's favourite. It was beyond delicious. Anabelle, Asuna and Kirizu all leaned on Ana. They were feeling very cuddly...which was an effect that the food also had on Ryra.

After the lunch, Ana sent another food item to everyone, and whispered what the second part of the meal was.

"I finally discovered a crepe recipe I'm completely proud of. Tell me what you think."

Hearing Ana's whisper tensed everyone up. They couldn't help it. Ana used her voice so rarely, that they had become used to hearing her voice as something only to hear when something was intense.

Everyone held the crepes sent to them in their hands, and they couldn't stop themselves as soon as they held them. The crepes were so fluffy and sparkled with seasoning, so well shaped and the bit of filling that could be seen at the top with the creme, that it practically in scent and visuals, begged for everyone to eat the crepes. The first bite from everyone drove everyone into silence. The utter quiet was intense, but everyone had tears in their eyes. Smiles brightened their expressions and they all collectively sighed happily when they finally swallowed down the first bite.

"Best. Crepe. Ever. Teach me!"

Kirizu was very vocal about her approval of the crepe. Ana had used a sort of secret recipe for the pancake mixture the base of the crepes were made of, so she wasn't going to teach it so easily. More likely to Anabelle and to Asuna...but Anabelle already knew since Ana had been testing it with her while the rest made their way to the dungeon and through the boss of the dungeon.

Everyone else were also very vocal about how much they enjoyed it. Agil didn't express a like for sweets often at all, so it was a surprise at how strongly he was enjoying the taste of the crepe. Everyone was fit to burst with how full they were between the primary meal of the stuffed bread and the crepe, both being a very filling type of food.

Ana turned to Asuna after everyone finished eating their crepes, knowing that the conversation would be on her mind. It would only be in ten minutes from the time they were currently at. Ana had chosen their current location initially in hope it would help Asuna calm down for it, but she was still very nervous. As everyone else finished thanking Ana for the food, starting to stand up and make their way away, Kirizu and Anabelle focused their attention on Asuna as well. They were all going to be there for the conversation, to back Asuna up.

"Onee-chan, hold hands with me."

Anabelle's gesture immediately caught Asuna and Kirizu off guard. Anabelle positioned herself right in front of Asuna, and she grabbed Asuna's hands even though she was being hesitant.

"See, me and a friend back in Canada, Katie, did this when we had to be strong for something. Give some of our strength to each other in a way. Even though we'll really be here for this, I couldn't always be there to help Katie out, so I'm giving you some of my strength. You need it more than me for this. Be strong. You have all of us here, so there's nothing to worry about. We have Mama with us, so there's already nothing to worry about. We even have Kirizu. You should be showing how amazing you are to her now, Onee-chan."

Anabelle was genuine with everything she told Asuna, and Asuna had tears form at the corners of her eyes. They didn't spill over, and a smile filled her expression. She nodded her head.

"Right! I also have to show you how strong I can be. I'm supposed to be the elder sister after all. Thank you, Anabelle."

Anabelle grinned happily and let go of Asuna's hands. She motioned to her mother, and Ana followed suit, doing the same, holding Asuna's hands, and conveying a feeling of sharing her strength. Kirizu followed as well, finishing off with a kiss before letting go. Everyone moved into different places so they would be ready for the conversation, and all be in the view around Asuna for the other side. Ana sat on Asuna's right side, with Anabelle on her lap, and Kirizu sat on Asuna's left side. Ana and Kirizu both held one of her hands. When the call came, Asuna answered right away and returned her right hand to Ana's, to continue feeling her strength, her presence in the stressful situation. Asuna would rather be fighting a floor boss than speak to the parents who raised her.

The sight on the other side of the video was grim. Ryra was sitting a little behind, not so in the frame, which made Anabelle pout immediately. In the middle was Kyouko, Asuna's mother, to her left was the younger, but still older than Ana and Ryra in comparison, Sugou Noboyuki. To the right of Kyouko, was Asuna's birth father, Shouzou. The sight of the three people in business suits was intimidating to those who saw them, except for Anabelle. She, like her mother who couldn't see them, were only waiting for their personalities to be revealed.

"Who are those other people, Asuna?"

The question from Shouzou was direct and snappy. Asuna's first reaction to that, was a deep breath, and to steel herself after glancing at Anabelle and Ana, then Kirizu, then looking back at the video feed.

"These people are my new family, along with the doctor in the room you're in. They're wonderful, supportive and they've made me feel more alive than I've felt in my entire life. My little sister, Anabelle is amazing in so many wonderful ways from how talented she is to how intelligent. Mom, Ana, has been the person who has supported me the most out of every adult I've met, and she takes care of me. She encourages me to learn more about myself, and teaches me things that you nor school ever taught me. Kirizu, is the person I want to marry in the future. I love her even a little more than I love Ana and Anabelle, Ryra as well. They've all been so important to me, and so supportive, and I want to stay with them after we get out of here."

The other side of the conversation was unmoving aside Ryra in the background who was smiling as she heard Asuna tell her feelings about the people she was with. That Asuna even mentioned Ryra as one of those people important to her, that she loved.

Kyouko sighed as she heard Asuna explain how she really felt. She had been anticipating the conversation more than the rest. She had intended because of her past to push Asuna to a bright and wealthy future, but she couldn't do that without becoming less of a parent to Asuna. She had refused to talk more to Sugou after she had talked with Ryra the second time. She had initially been the one to have the idea of pairing him with Asuna. Thinking about it after the talks with Ryra, not only did she not like Sugou's personality, he was also much older than her. Even older than the new parents taking care of her. Kyouko had to admit, she was happy to hear so much energy in Asuna's voice, she nearly broke her complexion to smile in response, but she needed to have some kind of likewise reaction from Shouzou before making her response to Asuna.

"Do you realize how irresponsible you are being? Think about this rationally. You are in a situation where you could die at any moment, yet you're being so close with these people. They're only slowing you down from getting out of there and getting on with your life. Get your head out of the clouds and get back to working your way out of there!"

Shouzou made Kyouko feel sick to her stomach. How could he be so dismissive and angry at the first time their daughter had been truly happy with her life. The person to counter his words, was Ana. Her whispered voice was strong, resolute and honestly furious with Shouzou.

"Yuuki-san, or should I call you Shouzou-kun? Either way, You should listen carefully, because it seems you know not the first thing of the situation here. This is not a one person experience. It takes many people to progress, and our group are the strongest here. Sadly, we do not have enough people in our group to run through floor after floor. Otherwise, we might have the chance to be out in a few months if it were easy to keep up with certain aspects such as levels and equipment. You have to remember, this is a game, where it doesn't matter how strong or skilled you are, you have to work with others to progress. With your attitude toward Asuna, I am glad I'm recording this conversation. Ryra can present this to court and have you tried for child abuse. Then you won't have any claim on her as a parent. It's very easy to tell from the energy around you that your wife Kyouko doesn't approve of your treatment of her. You also had the nerve to go behind her back and continue conversations with the other man with you. In our home country of Canada, you setting up to marry Asuna with that man in his thirties, is illegal, and would put all those involved in trafficking her off to him, including himself, in prison for a minimum of ten years. Remember she is your child, not your property. She's another human being who has a life of her own to live, and controlling her life as you have is slavery, which is still illegal here in Japan, and would put you in prison for five years. Continue giving me more reasons to have this sent to the government, if you have the arrogance thinking you're above the law. Canada would intervene even if the Japanese government would go easy on you since you're in their pockets."

Shouzou was shaken more and more as Ana continued to talk. He seemed to have some kind of backup for Ana being so prepared for the conversation.

"Oh? And why would Canada intervene?"

Ana sighed a little bit and caught her breath. She wasn't used to saying so much without a large pause.

"That would be because we have Asuna's adoption papers and they're filled out. It would only take a minute to confirm what we need to in order to have Asuna considered an international citizen as our daughter. As well, and I suppose this would be the stronger case against you. Without my involvement in their lessons, and my work toward virtual technology, Sugou wouldn't have a job at all right now, likely in jail because of his line of work, Kayaba might have finished the NerveGear on time but still be struggling in development, and of course, the Medicuboid you're also invested in wouldn't exist yet. Did you know that the Medicuboid project is now working in other hospitals in other parts of the world, such as Canada? It's already saved three dozen lives...plus the medical discovery of some medicines on my part. You would also do well to remember that Ryra's word is far stronger than yours right now with over nine thousand lives in Japan depending on her as the head doctor in this incident. My word only grows stronger, even if outside of this, it's far more difficult to speak like this. Others here get text windows for conversation who are less like family to me, otherwise, you should know how outmatched you are in any conversation."

Ana turned her attention to Sugou who realized who she was.

"Y-you're...!"

His stutter and inability to continue the thought, told everyone that she spoke the truth about him. Kyouko sighed, already knowing because of Ryra telling her more about him after learning of him from Ana. Looking into his line of work was very easy to do. It was also very easy to overlook his line of work because of the investments from illegal pockets toward his control work. The money was a blinding thing for most people in the world, since the modern world equated money to power.

"Don't you say another word...!"

Shouzou sighed and shook his head before telling Sugou to sit down.

"Return to your seat. I already knew what kind of work you were doing. You were making us money so I said nothing. You would bankrupt us though if we allowed you to stay tied with us in any way with the strength and pulls Ana-san and Ryra-san have in the world. We are thoroughly outmatched. Quite amazing the blind woman is the one who influenced the biggest advances in virtual technology. It would be more intelligent in our case to invest in her and Ryra than into your illegal actions. Since you have contributed to our growth, I will not turn you into the authorities on your work. It is quite tempting to do so with the...other work and ambitions you had. We will no longer invest or associate in your work."

Kyouko smiled and looked at him with a large feeling of respect and happiness that he was considering things rationally. Listening to Ana tell him how in trouble he was if he were to keep up as things were, she was a little frightened of Ana herself. She was also jealous. Ana had the real feel of a mother who fiercely defends her children. She wished she had been more like that in the past. Meeting Ana and Ryra made her realize how badly she went about trying to raise Asuna. Just because she was born into a poor family, didn't mean she had to force Asuna into another rich family like she was fortunate in marrying Shouzou. Asuna being supported by such powerful and influential people who truly cared for and supported her...made her feel regretful and inferior because of how she'd been. Want for another chance.

"Now, let's hear a little more about Kirizu. It feels a little strange still to comprehend not only Ana-san and Ryra-san as a couple as both being women, but for Kirizu who is also a woman to be in a relationship with you, Asuna, did their relationship influence this relationship?"

Asuna shook her head.

"It didn't. Well, the smallest bit maybe. Hearing that it would be possible for us to have children naturally some time in the future even with both of us as girls since they have a pregnancy right now made it feel more encouraging, but I confessed my feelings to her because of the genuine feelings we share. I love her. From her personality, to her determination, the way she's so protective and always doing her best for us...there's so many things I might lose control of how much I talk about it. I love her immeasurably. Kirizu...Kazu has really helped me the most at figuring out who I really am, and Mom really taught me how to start looking. Anabelle has been the best younger sister I could imagine, and she looks forward to us being a proper family in the future. Kirizu is so supportive and strong, even though this has all been so difficult for her as well. She and Mom are the people I respect the most, and I love all of them. They make me the happiest I've been, and I can't imagine being happier. Maybe they'll make me even happier, and I only look forward to it."

Shouzou nodded his head, eyes closed as he listened to Asuna continue on. Kyouko felt stabs of jealousy every time she heard Asuna refer to Ana as her mother as being so influential and important to her. She had to smile though, hearing how genuinely happy Asuna really was. That was her daughter's voice for sure. Her real genuine smile she hadn't seen with her grown face and expressions. It was happiness that Asuna had, which she had imagined a long time would come from pushing her into a wealthy family alone. The new regard for Asuna, she wanted desperately for another chance. It was...so daunting though. Since she had such a tight schedule for work and it would be so difficult to change even if her feelings had changed. She knew in her heart that a person like Ana, who would always be there when Asuna needed her, was someone who was far more suited to being her mother.

Sugou was distressed that he might be in serious trouble, and he was eager to get away from the conversation. He was disgusted to hear Asuna speaking so lovingly about someone else. She had never talked such a way to or about him, but he liked to imagine it, and apply his work to her to make it happen...he needed to get away, so that he could preserve his mental state.

"It sounds you have found someone truly incredible. If someone as capable as Ana is fine with your relationship, then I have no argument. I feel quite disappointed in our choice for you. I'd be glad if you never find out what kind of work he does, but I imagine you already know with how you looked at the beginning of this conversation. I fully support in Ana-san and Ryra-san adopting you, and supporting you as you deserve. I would like to still have updates on your situation, and I assume from Kyouko's reactions here, that she would also like to keep updated on your situation. I would also like to have the chance to meet your new family in person when you make it out, and the newer family members at the same time since you had mentioned their pregnancy. I support more, that your relationship can be fully recognized with your new family as a marriage in your other home country after this. I'm proud of you. And I'm happy that you found such a capable person to guide you along. I will never doubt the capabilities of a blind person again. I would like to see however, a small show of her capability. Just out of curiosity how unbelievably talented she really is. I'd checked her records and apparently she had been in archery in the past, so that could be more than proof enough in my opinion."

Asuna Kirizu, Anabelle and Ryra all smiled when they heard him going on, especially when he mentioned seeing how capable Ana was with her archery. Anabelle moved off from her lap, and Ana stood up with a slight sigh, a little annoyed at the notion of her need to prove her capability with the tie to the word blind again.

After standing up, Ana drew her bow from her inventory, readied it immediately, and without so much as taking a second to aim, she loosed an arrow into the distance, striking an antelope through the neck. She sat back down and faced the camera.

"Enough?"

The text window told them the conversation was over. Shouzou and Kyouko were stunned stiff at the shot she had made. Even many professional archers with great vision and control wouldn't be able to make such a shot, and Ana did it effortlessly. Sugou scoffed visibly but not vocally, afraid of backlash, but confident he could do better than her. The monster had even died in the one shot Ana had made. Sugou wanted to go in there, and mess Ana up as much as he could. Even though she had her own incomparable beauty he enjoyed seeing more than Asuna, she enraged every bit of him. Thoughts danced in his mind around the idea of having his way with her...

The room on the other end was eventually cleared to only have Ryra, and she brightened up as soon as the sound of the door closing was heard. She looked through to the other side and she wished she could dive right through the screen and hug Ana. She had been hoping she had taken in some of her ability to cast a strong sense of intimidation and authority like Ana did naturally, but again she realized she wasn't even close. She was just happy that she had something she was professionally recognized for and regarded and important because of it. At times she thought of competing with Ana, but knowing her stopped her from doing such a thing.

"I'll have Sugou followed. He was very upset with how everything went here, and it's possible he might try and do something despicable. For now...I'm so glad things went so well for you. I'm proud of you for being so strong, Asuna. You were all amazing!"

Ryra's words were refreshing to them. They didn't hear her praises so much recently.

"Thank you, Mama Ryra."

Asuna smiled widely as she responded to Ryra. Anabelle followed it up.

"It's because we were all here together!"

Ana and Asuna pet her head in response to her enthusiasm. Kirizu nodded her head happily.

"Really though...I didn't know you had that much on them to make it go so smoothly. How did you get all of that information?"

"Through Mai and some of her colleagues. Also, I had been researching some developments and companies involved in virtual technology after I stopped investing in it. I knew about Asuna's original family through that research since her father was so involved. I knew about Sugou because he had always been horrible at hiding what kind of work he's doing. Was always the type to jump at the idea of being able to force other people to do what he wanted them to, and he worked toward that through virtual technology, not for the sake of developing a safe device to allow people to do this without the current circumstances. I've had information the whole time, just needed to tell you to access my computer and tell you where to find it. As for everything else...yes, there is plenty of development of the Medicuboid in other parts of the world. Very impressive really. I hadn't just been gaming and writing while you were at work. I progressed and made a safe one, which is being used in other parts of the world. The devices here in Japan are mostly unsafe...excluding the one on my head. The device on my head which is actually doing work is underneath the NerveGear. It was a little work hollowing it out. It just had to do what I could to help with this, and my anxiety and nerves stopped me from being as trapped as everyone else. Allow me this though, Ryra. To continue protecting and helping everyone here. You could check on the truth of my words by twisting the small dial on the seam of the NerveGear at the back. Pull me out, and I won't be considered a patient anymore. I won't be able to continue helping as I have. I'm being selfish and stupid, but especially after Anabelle did something so reckless, and with the connections we've developed here, I have to continue here. By any means, check. But don't do it while anyone can investigate on this. If you or someone else does pull me out, officials will push for me to force the end of this, when I can't. I need the server, and unfortunately hiding it was the only intelligent thing Kayaba Akihiko managed to do in the end. They would push...and eventually try to convict me as an accomplice to his crime, because that's how the government here works. Blame those who can't fight back and punish them. Sorry, Ryra. For being so selfish."

Ryra was heavy in tears by the time Ana finished. Everyone was in tears. Ana risked her health regardless. She was pregnant...she should be considering that above everything else, but medically there was no issue with it. She already knew, she could go through it again after getting out.


End file.
